libya. they were intending to sell it on a global market. i'm john seigenthaler, and consider this is up next. >> russia is facing international sanctions over actions in ukraine, is there any real weight behind them >> also, the missing malaysian airline flight - could it really undetected. >> an inside look at the navy seals, and the orchestra conductor bringing people together torn apart by war. hello, i'm david shuster, welcome to "consider this," and here is more of what is ahead. >> i'm authorising sanctions on

>>. democracy. >> we'll base our response on whether russia chooses to escalate or de-escalate. >> we call on the russian leaders not to annex crimea. >> it's been 10 days of confusing information. >> the uss "kidd" is leaving. >> one of the most beloved orchestra conductors in the world sits down with al jazeera. >> astro fizz fists say they have proof that the universe bang. bang. >> i'm david shuster, sitting in for antonio mora. we begin with the crisis in ukraine. president obama and leaders in europe announced limited sanctions against russian and ukrainian officials, following the take over of the strategic crimean peninsula.

it came after a monday vote in crimea's vote that called on russia to annex crimea. russian media claimed 97% o crimeans voted for independence. at the white houses president obama explained who was sanctioned and why. >> individuals who provide material support to senior officials of the russian government. the international community will stand together to oppose violations of ukrainian sovereignty. >> it did not stop russian president vladimir putin signing a decree recognising crimea as an independent state, and will address the parliament in connection with crimea's appeals to join russia. those that signed up in the national guard, russian troops which surrounded

ukrainian forces continued to observe a negotiated ceasefire, scheduled to last until friday. let's go to simferepol, to nick schifrin, al jazeera's correspondent. what is it like there? excitement. they are talking about buying things in russian ruble, getting the russian passport. there's a sense among the pro-russians, that sunday was an independence day and they are determining their own destiny, writing, in their words, an historical wrong when a 1954 crimea became part of ukraine as part of an administrative decision. they feel that that decision is being taken back, and they'll look forward, as vladimir putin's address to the duma on tuesday morning. they'll look forward to becoming part of russia, and peopling like they are part of the moscow

orbit, rather than what the majority feels is the kiev centric western-looking orbit of western ukraine, which they don't associate with physically but culturally. >> the vote of 97%, given that the crimean tatars boycotted, what are the percentages of people that support russia, ukraine. >> if you look at the demographics and the polls over the last few years, there are no fewer than 60% of people that identify themselves as eastern leaning or moscow leaning or russian speaking or perhaps most specifically ethnic russians. so the other 30 to 40%, 15% are muslims, they are the largest minority, ethnic ukrainians. the majority of this peninsula is deciding or feeling that they are leaning towards russia, that

they associate with russia than western ukraine, not only because they speak russian, but their history, they feel an association with the soviet history, there's a lot of talk about world war ii, and which side the soviet union was on, and a feeling that western ukraine was on the long side, the nazi side. there's a lot of accusations about that. the minorities are fearful of the majority coming in and marginalizing them. the tar tars were departed by the soviet union leadership. some of them fear that history could defeat themselves. they will be deported if nothing left, that they'll be marginalised. that will be determined in the next couple of weeks. the first thing that everyone here is waiting for is what russia will do, expecting it to be annexed, and that will close the chapter of history that is 60 years old. writing a wrong, according to most of the people. >> closing a chapter between

russia, crimea and ukraine, but open another diplomatically. nick schifrin in simferepol. thank you for joining us. >> for more on the crisis in ukraine we are joined from washington d.c. by ambassador william taylor, serving ag ambassador for ukraine from 2006 to 2009 and coordinated assistance. he is vice president for the middle east and africa for the united states institute of peace. and on set nina khruscheva, professor of international affairs at the new school, member of the council on foreign into the gulag of the russian mind." ambassador taylor, president obama announced sanctions against 11 russian and ukrainian officials, all architects of the russia's ukraine policy, and the european union is to announce sanctions on tuesday, but they

may overlap with the president's list. the responses have been like this, from russia's deputy prime minister saying: "comraid obama, what do you do with those that don't have acts abroad or you didn't thing about it?" are the sanctions duds before you even think about it? >> no, i don't think they are not. the sanctions are designed to put pressure on officials, because of actions and decisions they had taken before. that is the action, decisions and recommendations to vladimir putin that he go forward with this sham referendum. that is what these sanctions are for. if the next step is taken, that is if vladimir putin decides that he is actually going to annex crimea, then the next round of sanctions, and a harsher round of sanctions will go into play. i believe that these people who are dismissing these sanctions now as not being effective will

sanctions. >> the point of sanctions is to change your behaviour. you can do that by pressuring the economy. the smart money does not expect much of a fight, at least not over crimea. >> i think it's because time should tell whether putin would annex crimea or go further into ukrainian territory. seems there's a lull waiting until tomorrow, and i think most analysts predict he wouldn't, if he annexes crimea, it wouldn't happen immediately. that would be as ambassador pointed out, that would be a harsher than what - and the russians want to wait and see how the international community independent. >> as this goes step by step,

russia is reportedly proposing sanctions against american officials, including dick durbin. is he playing to his domestic audience there? >> i am sure he's playing to the domestic audience, for what he hopes will be history, he'll go down as the leader who got crimea back. i bet durbin doesn't have many assets in russia and doesn't care in he travels to russia. i suspect it may not bother him. on the other hand there are people in russia who own properties, houses in london and in new york, and in florida, and have financial assets. so i suspect that these sanctions that we are talking about will be more effective than the ones that the russians are talking about. >> if the sanctions are effective, why not put sanctions been vladimir putin himself. he's believed to have money stashed overseas in all places, including cypress. why not go after that?

>> what are you going to do next? if you sanction vladimir putin, who will you talk to. vladimir putin has shown that when america does something to push him, he pushes hard. so you have pepsi cola, mcdonald's, all the american interests, and so far they haven't gone after those, although the russian threatened that they might. it's a delicate balance of power, and diplomacy still should be given a chance. >> given the diplomacy, it's interesting to listen to the public comments that the leaders say. i want to play sound from president obama's sanctions announcement on tuesday and get your reactions, watch. >> going forward we can cal brit our response based on whether russia chooses t de-escalate. >> that was monday, can that put pressure on russia, a calibrated

off? >> some would back off. they went beyond crimea for five seconds, but then went back. even though they occupy the power plant. nonetheless they went back to crimea. there is pressure, vladimir putin is trying to decide how much and how more scary he can get. he doesn't want to get too scary for the west. he will no longer be a partner for the west. for someone like vladimir putin, this is scary. >> if it is scary, i wonder if you can explain in that context that newsagencies are reporting that there's a ceasefire that the russian and ukraine agreed to, that that will end on friday. is that part of an effort to give breathing room, and what do you take the ceasefire to many? >> i understand that the cease fire is directed at the forces, the ukrainian forces on their bases in the crimea.

there are ukrainian soldiers who are loyal to kiev, and they are on their bases. they are not giving up, and not going over to the other side. now there are russian soldiers who are also there, and she is are clearly russian soldiers in crimea, who are vosurrendering the bases in some cases. it's a stand off, a truce between the two sets of the military force, those loyal to kiev and those russians surrounding the bases. >> one thing i don't understand, crimea imports more than something like 80% of its energy from kiev. why doesn't ukraine use the leverage from there and the united states to force russia to back off. >> they can, it's getting warmer so the energy crisis is probably not as threatening. this is weak leverage because

russia has more oil and gas than ukraine does. if ukraine cuts the supply, russia would be willing to come in and saying what we'll do for the face, for the people. it's calculated. it's not a great theft. if ukraine cuts supplies, they can get more from russia. >> over the next couple of days, what key moments or turning point will you see in terms of identifying whether the situation is getting worse or perhaps there's room for negotiated diplomacy? >> over the next couple of days we'll be looking to see if the government in kiev, the dual government of ukraine continues its amazing restraint and discipline. it has shown remarkable discipline in ta it has - its

territory has been violated, it has been restrained in its response. if that conditions, that could lead to discussions. >> thank you both for joining us, we appreciate it. >> there are countless nears about the missing malaysian jetliner. what expertise would be needed to make the plane disappear without a digitalar radar trait. there's a lot of attention on the pilot's political beliefs and state of mind. harmeli aregawi is tracking the top stories on the web. what do you have? >> after recalling 1.6 million vehicles last month general motors has more bad news. i have the details ahead. while you are watching, join the conversation by:

>> scared as hell... >> as american troops prepare to leave afghanistan get a first hand look at what life is really like under the taliban. >> we're going to be taken to a place, where they're going to make plans for an attack. >> the only thing i know is, that they say they're not going to withdraw. >> then, immediately after, an america tonight special edition for more inside and analysis. >> why did you decide to go... >> it's extremly important for the western audience to know why these people keep on fighting... ...it's so seldom you get that access to the other side. >> faultlines: on the front lines with the taliban then an america tonight: special edition, only on al jazeera america

>> as the search for malaysia airlines flight 370 continues, there's a new report from the "new york times" indicating the first change in the flight path was carried out by a computer system most likely programmed by someone in the cockpit. the time sources the story to american officials. whoever altered the path typed in key strokes on a system between the captain and first officer. it is not clear whether the plane's path was reprogrammed before or after it took off. the new information will, of course, add to the theories about the jet liners disappearance, and it ranges from a terrorist hijacking to a

political statement by the pilot, copilot or engineer. for more on what could and could not have happened based on the information so far. we are joined by santa fe by alan diehl, the author of science to save lives one crash at a time". this computerized flight management system, how does it work and how significant is the "new york times" story to our happened? >> it's interesting. i'm an airline transport rated, but i do not fly the 777. some of the flight management computers store standard routes that the airline flies, and if that were the case, which hitting a few key streaks, the plane went to a route it had flown previously, which is not the route to beijing. i'm not sure this means that someone was in the cockpit with

a gun or the pilots were crazy. it could mean there was another emergency, and the pilots were whatever. >> do you think that would account for them not communicating with back to tower or signal that they were in some sort of trouble? >> it wouldn't absolutely prevent them. once these fires break out, and this happened before. the swiss air jumbo jet out of j.f.k. they smelt fumes, they keep flying and before they know it there was a raging fire and they didn't make it. >> we don't know if there was a raging fire in this case, but based on the data, the transponder and data reporting system were cut off shortly. does it paint - i understand that one of these systems is not in the cockpit.

>> well, that's where - of course, we are all speculating here, david. that is where this problem might have occurred, and you'd start to lose electrical systems. perhaps the transponder, followed by the data part of the acars data link. we know the plane talked to the satellite for several hours. this - we can't eliminate this problem. by the way, it happened before in this identical airplane, cairo, 2011, 777 sitting on a ramp, a fire in the cockpit. everybody, of course jumped out, they were on the ground. they never quite figured out what caused the fire. we can't discount anything. we have to keep our minds open. there was another accident involving a 737 in 2005 where it wasn't a fire, but a greek airline, he'llios, and a flight attendanteneded up in the

cockpit trying to fly the plane. he had a flight attendant action system separate from the airplane, he couldn't recover the plane, it flue until it ran out of gas and crashed. again, i don't know that that happened here, but i can envision scenarios outside of the hijacking terrorist line of thinking we are going down. we don't know and we need to look at previous problems. >> some can envision the possibility of the jet landing at an old world war ii airfield. most of those air fields are to the east and the small island airfields to the west of malaysia are monitored by india and inton eastern radar. how much space does a 777 need to land? >> the manual says 5,000 feet if it's light. that's tight. we can't assume hijackers are worried about protecting the jet.

they may belly it in because there's a scenario that's been discussed that maybe this is really a robbery. on this route from kuala lumpur to beijing, there's supposed to be a lot of diamond shipments, a lot of gold. we saw "die hard", and saw how a hotel was taken over by robbers pretending to be terrorists. there's so much we don't know. if i was going to hijack the airplane, i'd head for the australian outback and put it back. i might not think about reselling the airplane. there's plenty of places where you could put a 777 down in australia's past outwhack in the north-west, where the airplane could be put down without crashing. of course, we could do the sole thing in the hudson. is this is only a guess, but i would

sindian ocean, and we need the aircraft out there. >> alan diehl, the science to save lives one crash at a time," thank you for your time tonight. we appreciate it. >> thank you for having me. >> over the weekend investigators turned some of their focus to the pilot, zaharie ahmed shah. there was a report that his family moved out of his house of day before the flight and another report that he was infuriated by a court ruling against an opposition party leader that he supported. as for the family crisis. investigators knocked it down and the family said report of conflict were nonsense. what about political anger over the treatment of the opposition party leader. let's turn to william j dobs dobson dobson,

author. the pilot supported the people's justice party, led by anwar ibrahim, and he was allegedly pictured wearing a shirt saying, "democracy is dead", are any members supporting violence? >> no. that's what you have to realise about anwar ibrahim, and the democratic coalition that he leads. anwar ibrahim is trying to change malaysia through elections. he's not even - he's not using terrorism or revolutions. he's competing against the ruling party and doing so effectively, which is one of the reasons why he's become a target for abuse and a number of different scandals that circulated. no, this is a supposeful democratic movement. saying someone is a fanatical follower is saying someone is a

fanatical follower of one of the finer democrats in the world. >> what was the court ruling a few days before the flight disappeared, that opposition supporters didn't like? >> that court ruling was the overturning of an acquittal in january 2012 of sodomy charges brought against anwar ibrahim several years earlier. the history of this goes back to 1998 when he was the deputy prime minister. he was believed to be the next prime minister of malaysia. shortly before that could happen he began to make statements about the political class in malaysia, and in particular about corruption and nepotism. many believed they were not so veiled comments about the outgoing prime minister. as a result of that, anwar ibrahim was put in prison, where he remained for about six years,

most of the time in sol itary confinement under sodomy charges. it's illegal in malaysia for two men to have sex. many believed they were trumped up charges. they come back again and again. to my knowledge no one in malaysia has been prosecuted for twice. >> why would the malaysian government attacked pilot's reputation and try to score opposition. >> this has not been a good week for the malaysian government. they are not accustomed to dominating international headlines. you can see in the way that malaysian officials are having to handle the press and answer a lot of questions, that they are not used to being held to the standard. their approach to the press conferences is paying and contradictory. and it's become frustrating for

many people, not just in malaysia, but particularly in china, at this point where the malaysian government's political support seems brittle than it has in the 56 years that the ruling party ruled, it makes sense for them to cast aspersions on their chief opponent. anwar ibrahim. >> author of the dictator's learning curve. thank you for coming on and explaining this part of the story. we appreciate it. >> time to see what is trending on the web. what do you have? >> general motors announce a round of recalls on monday. this time 1.5 million vehicles are being recalled for airbag and break problems. so far there has been no reported injuries, but gm recalled 1.6 veectss for faulty ignition swaches.

to make matters worst, gm knew about the problems for more than a decade. on monday gm's newly appointed c.e.o. released this statement focussing on how the ignition problem was handled. >> something went wrong with the process in this instance and terrible things happen. the system for deciding and managing recalls will change your. we are redoubling the product reviews, bringing them forward and resolving them quickly. >> a lot of people on social media are weighing in saying: have you been affected by the recalls. tweet us. this may be the beginning for gm, the fbi and the department of justice are pursuing a criminal investigation against the company for failing to

properly disclose the problems. >> thank you for the update. ahead - examining the navy seals from difficult submissions and valor to high burn-out rates, we'll see what makes them tick. scientists may have discovered what put the bang in the big bang. and a legendary conductor with more than music on his mind. our did you suggest with zubin >> there's no such thing as illegal immigration. >> al jazeera america presents... a breakthrough television event borderland a first hand view at the crisis on the border. >> how can i not be affected by it? >> strangers, with different points of view take a closer look at the ongoing conflict alex, a liberal artist from new york and randy, a conservative vet

from illinois... >> are you telling me that it's ok to just let them all run into the united states? >> you don't have a right to make judgements about it... >> they re-trace the steps of myra, a woman desparately trying to reunite with her family. >> to discover, and one of their children perish in the process, i don't know how to deal with that. >> will they come together in the face of tradgedy? >> why her? it's insane. >> experience illegal immigration up close, and personal. >> the only way to find out is to see it yourselves... >> on... borderland only on al jazeera america >> this is the real deal man...

al jazeera america. we understand that every news story begins and ends with people. >> the efforts are focused on rescuing stranded residents. >> we pursue that story beyond the headline, pass the spokesperson, to the streets. >> thousands of riot police deployed across the capital. >> we put all of our global resources behind every story. >> it is a scene of utter devastation. >> and follow it no matter where

it leads - all the way to you. al jazeera america, take a new look at news. >> america's least understood and celebrated special ops group is making news. the navy seals seized a tankership trying to sell illegal oil from libya. it will help libya's fledgeling

government as it tries to crackdown on outlaws that blockaded the ports. who are the navy seals that pulled off a dangerous and seemingly impossible mission. they are outlined in stories from the brotherhood of the us navy seals." we are joined by the two authors - scott mcewan, and richard miniter from washington d.c. what's it like to be a navy seal and how difficult is the hell week and the training and what they do to get there? >> one thing people have to realise is the attrition rate, the guys washed out, that are volunteers, in great shape, many that are olympic athletes that start the program. 70 to 80% wash out in the first two weeks. then you have your sqt and other training later on. essentially a wash out between 70 and 80", sometimes greater amounts. there's less than 3,000 total in

the united states. >> 3,000 that have been a navy seal, and you are talking about the best of the best. is there any sort of - what is in the d.n.a. of someone that makes it. i understand it's all physical types, demographics. what do people need to have inside their minds to get there? >> there are huge attrition mates, 70% for the first phase and another 70 for the second, which is sqt. the attrition rates got the attention of u.s. navy spending millions trying to see what was the magic formula for a navy seal - were they born close to the ocean, did they come from a military family? >> there's no parterb some grew up in wealthy subdivision, sol in poverty, some lived by the ocean some did not. some were born in the united states, sol not.

there's not a set background. but they had the eighty to dominate ability to dominate their body, dominate their mind and their spirit. using sheer will power to get going of the the number one thing that sets seals apart is a refusal ever to give up. >> and, scott, the unique set of characteristics, it bonds them together because they are such unique and different human being and fighters. the fraternity creates an interesting culture between them. explain it. >> what we did was try to give the character, if you will, the navy seals a life. and show the brotherhood the brotherhood history navy seals, a tight-knit group. it can be one generation to the next.

they have guys in the "70, and '80s, bonding with the guys that are 18 and 19. once you have been through the program, you are a seal for life. a marine is a marine for life. the seals are seals for life, and that is how they live. if you go to seal funerals, you'll see guys that left in the vietnam era, and hang out with 18-year-olds. there's no gap. we had a story about a seal widow, and seals showed up and took care of the home, even though she never met them and they had never met her former husband who is dead. >> what did you make about the osama bin laden raid and what you learnt about it, and what it says about the seals that perhaps you didn't know. >> the difference in the osama bin laden raid and where we have

a dangerous and bad event taking place, where they lose a helicopter and the difference between that and what happened in iran 30 years ago, during the eagle clock, when the iran hostage crisis took place. in iran they had to scrap the mission, they weren't able to go forward and rescue the hostages taken. in the operation with, you know, osama bin laden, that was part of the process. they expect problems, and when it happens, you switch to plan b. they will not quit. >> as far as not quitting, how difficult was it to put the book together given as you and scott point out, these are people that don't like to talk. >> they certainly don't like to talk. active duty seals have covert identities. we talked to them, some recently stories from the brotherhood of the us navy seals" that were never put forward.

that's a gret from a seal from communist poll and, gets out of prison and end up in the navy skills, and the russian navy skills are useful this taking down a russian tanker off the gulf of iraq in world war i. we found stories that readers have never scene. >> based on what you have learnt, what's the ideal mission, and what is one where they are not the best unit. >> the riyadh raid and how you ask the guys to go mission after mission after mission, not unlike the military that has been at war for 10 years, and a lot of military have had to go back in and being redeployed time after time. the best mission for the seals is to keep the spear as sharp as possible and send them on the finite mission where it takes

out someone like osama bin laden, direct actions, things of nature, where you need the skill set not to maintain or stay there to be an army, but to take the mission and accomplish the mission and give the rest of it a clean-up to the other branch of the military. that's where they are best. >> there was a report over the weekend that a reason, and unconfirmed, one of the reason that the osama bin laden photos were released is because osama bin laden's body had been shot, perhaps 100 times by the seals that wanted to take their shot. no one knows if that was the case. is there danger, when you have an elite unit, going through emotional and gripping missions, is it difficult to make sure they operate within certain lines of authority. >> the seals have more latitude than any group inside the navy or armed forces. we can't rule out this thing, it's impossible to know whether

osama bin laden's body was shot multiple times by other seals, so everyone can say they fired a shot. we'll never know. the body was disposed of in the indian ocean, an area known for sharks. there's no physical evidence, we'll never get the answer. one of the missions ideal for the seals beyond the osama bin laden, is look at america's secret war in north africa, deployed to take out the al qaeda groups before they become a threat. it doesn't get news coverage but is changing the war on terror, taking it to new detention. >> the brotherhood of the us navy seals." richard miniter in washington, and scott mcewan in new york. thank you both for joining us, we appreciate it so much. coming up, what could be the most amazing discovery in a warter century. excited. >> and a 78-year-old music

>> these protestors have decided that today they will be arrested >> these people have chased a president from power, they've torn down a state... >> what's clear is that people don't just need protection, they need assistance.

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>> we can deal with our conflicts... >> and touch our soles... >> it was my dream to get a high school diploma. >> award winning film makers create create unique perspectives. >> everybody's different here... >> just gotta tell ya, it was just a very magical moment... >> al jazzera america presents... on al jazeera america >> we've heard of the big bang theory - and not just the tv show. what has been called one of the greatest discoveries of the universe in over 25 years - we may have evidence that it's more than a theory. to put it in language we are can understand we are joined by dr derrick pitts, from franklin institute science museum. what did they find and how does it support the theory bang? >> what was found was evidence that a particular event took place. models of how the evidence came into existence used a theory

known as the inflation theory, how the universe could expand and be uniform in the depsity of material, that allows objects to form cluster of stars and objects. by detecting gravity waves, inflation, indeed could have happened. this was a rapid expansion of all material wrapped in an infinitesimally small and dense object that was the beginning of the big bang. >> why is this the first time anyone could observe these described? >> well, part of the reason is you have to have a good detector that you set up to look for exactly the kind of evidence that you are looking for to prove that this event occurred. you have to do it from a place on the planet where you have the ideal conditions to do it. the

detector had to do the job. you look for a tiny effect, and it's done from antarctica, where the conditions for observing are right. we are looking for very, very tiny fluke tuitions in the background universe, superimposed on a background reading of temperature left over from the big bang. it's a difficult observation. more difficult to prove that what they saw is exactly what they expected to see and nothing introduced as an error from any part of the experiments or equipment or anything else. >> i think i understand why this is a difficult thing to detect. why is it hailed as the greatest discovery in the universe in the last 25 years. earth? >> what it does is provide the link, if you will, between the original state of the universe at the point of the big mapping

- bang, and what we see. we have 14 divisions and 20 or 30 billion years of time on either side of that that make up the universe. how do we figure out how to get the universe so big and uniform. there needs to be a connection. inflation is the link, that proves the idea of a couple of things, that the universe expanded the way it did, and the universe happened the way it did. what it means to us is we understand how the universe came into existence, and we could get a good idea of what will happen to the universe, what will the fate be, and we can have a better idea of the possibility of other june verses besides this one. >> how do you answer the question, what do you believe is the fate of the universe, and wouldn't that far exceed the life span of planet earth?

>> yes, it far exceeds the lifetime of our star, and the universe will go on for billions of years more as it runs out of energy. what we find of the june verse when we find the evidence showing that inflation occurred is that the june verse is not closed, meaning that it will eventually shrink again and start over. it's not open, meaning that it will expand forever, but it will be in the kind of continue that we see it now as we expect it to be, and so that works out exactly as theories said it should be. so astronomers work with models for how they think the universe should be operating and the discovery of the gravity waves that indicate inflation did odour proves the models we've correct. >> there's other space news. astronauts spines lengthen

causing strain on muscles and bones, but scientists developed a skin-tight suit that is supposed to help with the problem. how does it help the benefit of travel to mars? >> the elast yik sort of squeezes your body together. your vertebrae stretches out and you gain three inches, this is a body that squeezes the body from the shoulders to the feet, pulling it together, eliminating the stretch from the microgravity effect and gives resistance for the muscles of the body to work against, keeping muscle tone close to earth conditions as you can get for long friendships in space. important to alleviate the problems of travel in space. >> thank you derrick pitts for your time. appreciate it. >> coming up, he's conducted in

some of the most prestigious halls around the world and some of the most conflicted. >> al jazeera's investigative unit has tonights exclusive report... >> from coast to coast... >> people selling fresh water for fracking... >> stories that have impact... >> we lost lives... >> that make a difference... >> senator, we were hoping we could ask you some questions about your legal problems... >> that open your world... >> it can be very dangerous... >> i hear gunshots... >> the bullet came right there through the widdow... >> it absolutely is a crisis... >> real reporting... >> this...is what we do... >> america tonight, only on al jazeera america.

al jazeera america. >> one of the most be loved conductors has begun a concert tour. 78-year-old zubin mehta has been leading orchestras around the world. we had an opportunity to talk with him about his efforts to bridge music and humanity. >> in the world of classical music there are few people as well regarded as zubin mehta. he conducted the world's best orchestras, including in berlin,

montreal, new york, bombay. but he's closely identified with this group. 7 music ♪ ] >> the israel philharmonic orchestra. > we have a positive message. we play the concerts. we don't go with the israeli flag. there's no propaganda, we go on the tour as a world class orchestra. we make music. >> this maestro seeks to make a profound impact on humanity. and he is not shy about the efforts, starting with his own ensemble. >> it is my dream that an israeli arab will sit amongst israeli jews and make music. >> why is it so meaningful? >> there are over 1 million israeli arabs living within today's boundaries of israel. and they should be included as

one of us. >> you sympathise with the palestinians and are opposed to the settlements. >> i'm opposed to the settlements. i don't want to make a big discussion out of it, but settlements to the future of both palestine and israel are counterproductive. there are fanatics on both sides. it's not just the israeli palestine conflict that he's passionate about. >> he has led orchestra s in the region of kashmir. >> there's something about you and conflict that draws each other. what is that. >> we must never stop using our art to help people, bring people together. in sarajevo the war was going on, and we played a concert in the court of the islamic library. one of the first things that was

bombed was the house of books. in kashmir it was my life-long dream to have muslims and hindus in my country sit together and listen to music. i didn't change your the history of kashmir from the end of that concert, but they sat together and heard beethoven and sick ov ski. i think they went away with a smile on their face. there was a remnant of peace in their hearts, i am sure. >> for zubin mehta, music diplomacy never stops. the healing power it brings inspires him. >> first time we played in berlin. germans were with tears in their eyes, especially at the end of the concert. >> what was it like for you and members of the orchestra. >> i'm neither jewish, or

israeli or german. i was proud to be part of this. an occasion no one would forget. >> he grew up in bombay, studied in vienna and conducted the philharmonic orchestra at 25. people. >> there were great musicians sitting in front of me. i was not conscious about their inner most feelings. and i insulted them even during a performance by making negative zestures that i didn't blik what they did. the -- i didn't like what they just did and the poor man or woman was destroyed for the rest of the performance. they couldn't perform. i had a call, a venerable conductor, eugene ormondy was ill. they had nobody. i went there. every conductor gets a first chaps.

if i went there to help them out and nothing musically important happened between us, they would have said "thank you very much", and i would never see me. but they invited me a second time and a third time, and started an incredible friendship with me, and the israel philharmonic and israel. >> a friendship and a marriage, as he calls it, like any other misunderstandings. >> ups and downs with israelis is a matter of daly discussions. >> we are a family. >> years ago zubin mehta asked his orchestra to play a work by wagner, adolf composure. >> you tried to get the israeli philharmonic to play it. it didn't work out. they didn't play it. will you try again? >> we will.

we have to have patience. there's still quite a few people with tattooed numbers on their arms. they are revered saints in israel. we have to respect them. it's not that they hate the music of wagner, but music transports them back to the time of terror. and we want to avoid that. >> zubin mehta adores israel - the people, the dreams and the music making. >> the israel philharmonic has some of the world's soloists, if it's a horn, clarin et, whatever, they play with dedication and conviction that i stand there and am awe struck. >> the israeli people are awe struck by him. he has been given countless awards and governmental honours. >> you are perhaps the most famous orchestra conductor in

the world. did you think you'd have this career and life? >> not in my wildst dreams. but it's not as exaggerated as you put it? >> how so. >> i'm a mousse iron carrying his craft. >> a world dominated by pop stars, celebrities like "american idol." i don't watch television in the evenings. >> the concept of amateur musicians with a hidden talent. >> i tell you one thing. if i send on one of these shows a talented american german or israeli violinist or pianist, they would wipe them all out. they are talent. musicians. >> the orchestra for zubin

mehta, his invitations never end. he's scheduled to conduct in half a different countries. >> you're 78, how long will you do this? >> i'm not going to die in a sanaa torium. >> do you want to die in front of an orchestra? >> why not. >> if someone was to describe your legacy, what would it be? >> that i try with the music to bring people together and spent as much time with my family as i knew. >> that might be because his family extends to musicians and orchestras across the globe. and ever the optimist zubin mehta plans to see them all again soap. >> zubin mehta opened his latest tour over the weekend in ann arbor, michigan, conducting in chicago and leave the orchestra wednesday in boston. that's it for "consider this".

the show may be over but the conversation continues on the website. i'm david shuster, thank you for psh >> the new c.e.o. of general motors offers an