dive deep into these stories at >> a chilling new development in the ukrainian crisis where parliament of russia approves use of military force. and californians deal with heavy rains causing massive floods and dangerous mudslides.

the crisis is now deepening in the ukraine where the upper house of the russian parliament has approved president vladimir putin's request to authorize the use of force. this comes as the southern region of crimea increasing autonomy. now we're joined by phil ittner in moscow. phil, what more are we hearing on the diplomatic front? >> morgan, this whole crisis appears to have been kicked in to another level of intensity based on what happened on the russian parliament today. the russian dumema to approve the use of military force not in crimea specifically, but in ukraine. that puts everything in high

gear. we are hearing that there will be an u.n. urgent meeting today in new york. the u.n. security council meeting probably in an hour. we have heard from the e.u. foreign ministers. they also will be holding an emergency meeting tomorrow in london the british foreign minister has made a statement saying that calls into question the sovereignty and territorial integrity of ukraine potentially if military force is used. and calling the russian ambassador to britain to get an explanation of what is going on with russian maneuvers. just an awful lot we know in london there will be protests tomorrow. a lot of fast-moving developments here, and a lot of reaction in moscow. >> as far as russia is

concerned, what is the reason for all of this? >> they have said that that they basically maneuvered lega legale and motions and constitutions in ukraine that says enable them to do this. the reason again for those--for this development i. now our colleague in al jazeera lawrence lee went to crimea, and he spoke to many of those russians. some of whom would welcome action, but many of whom are just frightened by the crisis and the chaos that this situation has brought about.

>> how much has changed between thursday and saturday here. then a smallish crowd of protesters outside of parliaments now the building guarded by armed troops, and the same civilians issue new orders. go back, be gone. they enjoy this power. it isn't just the parliament building and parliament itself which has been lost to kiev. the block cases have spread to places like police and security services headquarters. overnight the state tv channel was plunged into darkness. we saw military figures inside the perimeter. the airports and air space also controlled by people who want to keep ukraines influence out of here even on civilian flights. these things don't look like a random series of coincidences. political institutions, state television, airports, military installations. they're all what moscow would call strategic object and

controlling them is crucial if you want to control events. could it valley be then that moscow wants to use the ukrainian revolution as an opportunity to try to regain crimea. >> of course, plenty of people here like all this, all these people said they would love it if moscow started handing out russian passports as they did in breakaway regions of georgia. >> all of us are russians. we kept our documents because in our souls we are russians. but we had to accept ukrainian passports in order to get pension or to work. >> reporter: but the speed of all this has left others terrified. at this ukrainian church they're holding a service for those killed in kiev. now they see troop movements here, a lack of government control and it frightens them. >> we wake up in the morning and don't know what will happen before the day ends. every day brings surprises.

we're very worried. >> and we found these crimeaen tatars whose ancestors were deported from here by stalin defending their own t.v. channel with sticks. >> putin gave these orders. it's impossible the head of state does not know he's intimidating another country. he has troops on the border, they have tank ready. they are just waiting for a reason. >> reporter: russians say it's ridiculous that they're invading a place where they already have military presence and not at all strange to claim a place that once historically belonged to them. al jazeera crimea. >> let's turn now to jennifer glass in crimea. we've seen force there is over the last few days, but what would an official russian military presence really mean? >> reporter: morgan, i think it would be more over vet than what

we've seen in the last few days. the airport has been closed for the past 24 hours, the commercial airport being closed, and overnight going into the airport. a military installation. we did also see movement at a very small port in the east of here, about 80 miles east of here. that's a very small ukrainian military port. we saw troops move in there. now that the russians have made it remain their intentions, they've authorized use of force not only here but ukraine as well. as you heard there are many ethnic russians here, and crimea is ethnic russians. and we saw demonstrators in the street chanting russia, russia, and they welcomed this new development. that troops would be authorized to come in here and use force, against whom they would use force is the real question. with the airports closed, the

idea there was to keep anyone from kiev from coming in. there are roadblocks on the road as well. movements have been limited here, and it's unclear exactly who those forces would be poised against. >> jennifer, with the airports closed and chants of russia russia, how worried is the interim government in kiev. >> reporter: the interim president called a meeting with his security council immediately after the russian decision was made. do you try to send troops and end up in a stand off against russian which vastly outnumbers them. russia already has 150,000 troops involved in exercise along ukraine's border. that is about the size of ukraine's entire military. so you know, ukraine woul woulde

outnumbered and outgunned. the question is how is kiev going to deal with this new development. it's a brand new government, 48 hours old. they are just getting themselves under way. the interior minister has been transmitting statements via facebook and his blog because the constitution institutions an place in kiev. this is a huge challenge for them. >> jennifer, thank you for being with us this afternoon. the white house has warned russia against any military intervention. libby casey joins us now live from washington. libby, has there been any reaction from washington to this latest move. >> reporter: not today. that's interesting in and of itself. the white house has called lunch lid with the press. that means the white house has said, media that is around, go have lunch. take care of your personal life and do other things until 5:00 p.m. we don't expect to hear from president until 5:00 p.m.

don't hold your breath for any sign of mr. obama at this moment. president obama did issue a warning last night. president obama spoke from the white house. >> obama: the white house will stand with the international community in affirming it there will be costs for any military intervention with ukraine. >> what is interesting about that quote is he talks about the international community. the white house is trying to align itself with the european union and the greater international effort to position russia against the rest of us, essentially. the white house is left with few options. and president obama has to think about what his next move is in terms of escalating or de-escalating tension at the moment. we're watching the white house do back channel conversations. president obama himself said yesterday there are daily conversations happening between the kremlin and the white house, also the state department. so a lot happening behind the scenes, but quiet from the white house for now.

>> we're waiting to hear hopef hopefully from 5:00 p.m. we'll have updates from the president himself. thank you, libby casey, for joining us from washington, d.c. also joining us, james, deputy director from ukraine. is there a difference between authorization and action? >> not really. it seems to me that the big question is no now is whether ts an expo facto or is something more ambitious being planned by russia in the future. >> president obama said that he was deeply concerned about russian intervention in the ukraine, but what options does he have on the table? >> there is very small options. there is canceling the g-8 this

year. i'm sure that really scares president putin. president obama has stayed clear of the red line characterization that he used in syria because there is not much the united states can do unless we want a nuclear confrontation with nato on one side and russia on the other. i don't think people want that. remember how people reacted to the military action in syria. >> you mentioned syria. is it possible that the syrian peace talks are now in jeopardy? there is up tension, could the peace talks be derailed? >> well, the peace talks were more any way. it soon became clear that the russians and the merge americane

talking the same language on the geneva talks either. the russians saw this as an opportunity to a power sharing to end the war. and the american side was insisting the only discussion was transitional government meaning assad must go, and the russians did not accept that. so it did not amount to anything it seems. >> you addressed putin's fear. what kind of damage could do to the russian economy and even to america for that matter? >> well, you know it's interesting. it appears there has been a great flight to the dollar internationally. oddly enough it seems that the united states has derived some benefit in superficial terms from the crisis as we do in monetary terms. russia could decree benefit if there is any increase in energy prices which there already seems to. it's not as though their

customers in europe can stop buying energy because they're unhappy with what is happening in ukraine. i'm not sure that it hurts russia all that much. >> earlier it was looking like anti-government protesters had the upper hand. we had yanukovych on the run. we had tymoshenko released from prison. but does this show us now that progress was not necessarily a win? >> absolutely. and i think that's the real missing story here that has not been adequately covered. what is the legally elected president of ukraine, mr. yanukovych, who is now taking refuge in russia and still claims to be the legal president, some how you could have a street demonstrators including some very violent armed people drive the president out of the capitol and say,

okay, we win now, you lose. you have to accept this. the russians are saying, um, no, we don't. we have cards to play here, too. we don't recognize this government or so-called government in kiev which frankly doesn't even control kiev. the people on the streets say if they are demands are not met they will drive this crowd out just like they drove yanukovych out. i think in a sense that's the biggest russian objective, to show that this so-called government in kiev is not a government of anything. they don't control anything. they don't mean anything. >> james joining us live from washington, d.c. thank you for being with us. >> thank you. >> the crisis in ukraine is casting a shadow over this year's paraolympics. pro russian gunmen have taken over government buildings and payment. it's on high alert but isn't planning to alter the games just yet. the pakistani taliban has agreed

on an one-month cease-fire on the government. the truce is a step towards reviving peace talks with the government, and pakistan has welcomed the deal. talks fell through last month on taliban areas in northwest of the country. and a turn on al jazeera america, a community comes together to help victims of an avalanche right there in the mountain city of missoula. >> stephanie staten in glendora, california, where mothe more ras going to fall, and residents are concerned about the charred hills behind me.

>> in california the recent drought has given way to a relentless town pou downpour ths prompted mandatory evacuations. the rains are expected to last through today before moving east to the rocky mountains.

stephanie now in glendora, california, one of the hardest hit areas of the storm. >> nevadstephanie, can you hearn glendorglendore cap california. >> reporter: there has been some floods in glendora, but the hills behind me are charred from the fire last month. it doesn't take much for those hillsides to come down, and more mud to start to flow. you're seeing small mud flow here. that's nothing as to what may happen if we get more rain, and the rain has just started to

fall. let's look at nearby azusa. you can see the mud flows, the thousand homes or so in this area 75% of the folks here have decided to defy those evacuation orders and shelter in place. that has officials concerned. while there may not be life mud now, but once that mud starts to flow it's very difficult to rescue people from these mudslides. that's the real danger, the real threat happening in glendora. >> stephanie, given the drought in the state, isn't this rain a good thing? >> reporter: theoretically you would think it's a good thing. yes, we desperately need rain. but this rainstorm has come so fast and so fierce that the

hillside is very delicate. once the hillside is saturated, and we get more rain on top of it, it can't handle it, and the mud comes down. it's not enough rain to stop the drought. it's a double-edge sword if you think about it that way. >> stephanie stanton in glendora, california, one of the hardest hit areas by the storm. thank you very much. we have the ukrainian ambassador to the u.n. what is your action to the latest development in your country? >> what happened today in russian parliament could be qualified as a severe violation of the charter. still we have a possibility to stop the russians until president putin has decide the

decision. secondly, this is a big questi question. we are entering th--we are addressing who consider themselves christians to stop their leaders in russia. not to perform this crime. yesterday we observed the real invasion in crimea, and i informed the world community about the facts of the crossing of the boarders by the huge amount of military, aircraft, helicopters, so we yesterday we spoke about the attempt to be

considered a crime. today we do consider it a crime of aggression, and we demand to stop and to move all russian troops from ukraine and ask the world community to help us, to stop this aggression not to be developed into the more dangerous situation as it is proposed by the parliaments in russia. >> specifically, ambassador, what is it that you want the international community to do in order to stop this, what you call this crime. >> first of all we want to hear the solidarity. the parliament should be addressed by some of the leaders like president obama, like european leaders. we are waiting for other world leaders to do the same, and to

demonstrate our solidarity to protect not only the ukraine, but the principles of the charter. at to date it has happened befoe with georgia. we are addressing the decision 0 years ago of the budapest agreement, budapest memorandum by members of the security council guaranteeing us our security,ing it toral integrity. thethey agreed not to interfere. the russian ambassador said this is not a case.

this is the principles and hospitaly word widhonestly worlk to protect us by concrete measures. we're doing it from here. today the consultation of the security council will take place because of the emergency. to follow what the russian parliament decided to do. we need support to stop the aggression, and t the permanent member of the united nations security council, and to demonstrate the readiness to negotiate and to stop any attempts of artificial to

protect russian-speaking, ethnic russia. i imagine the advance for russian-speaking, many from the former soviet union. this is a very dangerous policy. very dangerous to protect on that basis anybody around the world. >> ambassador. have you spoken to viktor yanukovych? >> no. >> how do you think the country is now reacting to the interim government? do you think this is the place to see some changes which the protesters have been calling for, or do you think it's appropriate to wait until after the may 25th elections. >> first of all, the government which was appointed by the people is not interim but full

pledgfullfledge government put e by the parliament. it is a legally elected government. to prove that everything is correct i address everyone who is to the fact of two ministers, ministers of defense, and ministers of foreign affairs. >> ambassador, i want to thank you for joining us this afternoon. this is ukrainian ambassador to the u.n. speaking to us from the united nations. thank you so much for watching al jazeera america. as these events unfold we encourage to you watch us online at www.aljazeera.com or on twitter. the stream is up next. i'm morgan radford. stay tune. we look forward to seeing you again at 2:00 p.m. eastern time. e

education... gun control... the gap between rich and poor... job creation... climate change... tax policy... the economy... iran... healthcare... ad guests on all sides of the debate. >> this is a right we should all have... >> it's just the way it is... >> there's something seriously wrong... >> there's been acrimony... >> the conservative ideal... >> it's an urgent need... and a host willing to ask the tough questions >> how do you explain it to yourself? and you'll get... the inside story

ray suarez hosts inside story weekdays at 5 eastern only on al jazeera america >> hi, i'm lisa fletcher, and you're in "the stream" . you pay for internet access. but are you getting your money's worth. is your net experience being controlled by big media? >> our producer a.m. waj i wajai bringing you live feedback to the show. you name t we're on it every single day. but there is a growing concern