of every tax dollar. >> that's not a lot of money. so what has to happen is that someone has to decide: what is the most appropriate thing we have to deal with? >> this is an important one of the derek pitts t it's great to have you on the show. >> that's it for us. we will see you next time. good evening, everyone. i am jon seigenthaler in new york. apartheid state, audio of secretary john kerry's stark warning about israel and a call for senator ted cruz for him to resign. pressure point, the riding tensions over ukraine and the new sanctions against russia. how will putin respond? sterling speaks. as sponsors flee and players protest, the nba own ter accused of racism talks. drivers not wanted. here comes the google car,

hands-free, road-tested. it's ready. but are you? we begin tonight with the growing controversy surrounding peace in the middle east. it centers around comments made by secretary of state john kerry that have angered some israeli and american politicians. speaking of foreign dig nat taries on friday, he saidisition is in danger of becoming in his words an apartheid state: scariry was describing pos ticket sconsequences. reaction was swift, especially

fromvannator ted cruz who quickly called on kerry to resign. >> i believe the secretary kerry has proven himself unsuitable for the position he holds and, therefore, before any further harm is done to our national security interests and to our critical alliance with the nation of israel that john kerry should offer president obama his resignation. >> tonight, secretary of state kerry apologized for the comment after defending his support of israel, kerry said, if i could rewind the tape, i would have chosen a different word. it is a word best left out of the debate here at home. >> a former consult sulat general in the united states joins us here in new york. ambassador, welcome? >> thank you, jon. >> what is your reaction to this? >> to his retraction? >> both? >> his original remark wasn't that bad. i mean i resent the

fact that we are even being mentioned in the same sentence with the word, is it despicable word "apartihei"apartheid" is n something that hasn't been said in the past that we did not disassociate from the palestinians and in the event that there is no separation into two states and in the event that this becomes one state or unitary political unit and israel risks becoming an apartheid-like state. it is -- it is horrible to think in those terms as an israel. but secretary kerry said nothing thattitsisi politicians vint said. >> it want just he. david olmert and defendants minister. if they can say it, why can't john kerry say it?

>> because this is america. there is a fight going on against the obama admin station on capitol hill. i think -- let me put it this way, jon. i would not use the apartheid word if i were john kerry. >> said, he warned what could be the consequences of failure to reach a two-state solution. he warned what israel could become or what israel could be branded as being, although we are not even close to that. and in that respect, he said something out of the friendly and caring notion rather than being critical. >> on the other hand, the president of the united states says that word -- and he said this long before this event happened, the president said, this word has no -- has no place in this discussion at all. so should he consider, as ted cruz said, should he resign? >> of course not, he shouldn't

resign because of a word. he specially if israeli politicians have used that before. but the president is right. the word "apartheid" in its original form and original meaning and connotation has to do with racism with an exploitation and with a system that downgraded blacks in south africa to a lesser people. this is not the case in the israel/palestinian equation or formula. again, i would not use the word if i were john kerry, but then again, what he is warning about that in the event that israel does not disassociate from the spal stennians, we will be demographically faced with a reality in which there is a imagi majority between the jordan river and the mediterranean sea a on the west and in which case,

they will have one man, one vote to be franchised and if we disenfranchise them, we are sort of an apartheid state. if we that is what john kerry w saying, the "a" word, so to speak should not have been used. >> said, it's not a big deal. >> the comments, though, what do they do to the peace talks which are already collapsed? is there a -- does this make it more difficult for john kerry to put talks back on track? >> no. i don't think so. i think putting the talks back on track is the responsibility of israelis and palestinians and they have failed ms. recallbly in the last 20 years, 30 years, 10 years, one year, two weeks, to doing so, to put the onus on john kerry would be an easy way out. i don't think this infringes or disturns john kerry from being further

involved. >> john kerry and the president said some settlement are probably one of the biggest challenges to getting a solution. do you agree? >> yes but let's put it in context. the u.s., the u.s. has been opposed to settlement since the lyndon johnson administration as early as '67, '68 when he was replaced by richard nixon. ever since then, every u.s. president and state department and indeed secretary of state has reiterated the position according to which settlements are an obstacle to peace, quote, unquote. are the settlements the reason why we have no agreement right now? no. >> is not the reason. the reason is we can work around these settlement. according to the clinton parameters of 2000 or the understandings of 2008, they are certainly not contributing and

there is certainly an issue the palestinians feel strongly about. but on their merits, the settlement issue is not what is prohibiting or inhibiting an agreement: it's the idea of a pal stainian state. it's jerusalem, not just the settlement. >> always good to see you. thank you for dropping by. a new threat from washington to moscow. the u.s. is hitting russia with more sanctions after involvement in the crisis. the situation on the ground there is growing increasingly violent. in the eastern city of donetsk, pro-russian activists broke up a rally in support of ukraine's government. they beat some demonstrators with baseball bats. several people were injured. earlier today, the mayor of ukraine's second largest city was shot in the back and severely wounded. the latest sanctions target

seven officials and 17 companies close to president putin. president obama says the measures are meant to change the kremlin's calculus on ukraine. mike viqueira tells us more about the latest movement on the from the white house. >> they are hope toing the threat of the sectoral sanctions against broad sections of the russian economy which many europeans are against, dragging their feet, that the mere threat would be enough to change vladimir putin's behavior. the trip to the east has been shadowed by the ongoings crisis in ukraine. questions at the joint press conference, the president has had all along the way in the philippines on monday, he referred to this as another calibrated effort. the seven individuals, scenario more individuals are to be targeted by sanctions in addition to the 17 entities or businesses that are associated with those who have been already

targeted in the previous three rounds of sanctions. now, the white house is very eager to create the perception that these sanctions are a much greater than the sum of their parts. they point to the damage of the russian economy ever since this crisis began and the coordinated response from the west, 12% decline in the stockmarket. $60,000,000,000 in capitol flight from -- capital flight. a 9% deskraluation for the roobl and estimates for gdp have been revised downward by 1% as a result of all of this. the white house makes no bones about the fact that they want to go forward with more dramatic sanctions, and they say that any invasion of russia by those troops who have been massing on the border for weeks now would likely trigger that, but it is no secret that the europeans are dragging their feet a little or at least much more reluctant as they are far more integrated in the russian economy. the president wraps up his trip

talking about ukraine, what the white house has considered a successful trip of ukraine front and center. john, mike viqueira, al jazeera in manilla. >> mike, thank you very much. coming up at the half hour, russia, follow the money, an in-did he haveth look. here at home, a new wave of destructive topics sweeping across the south. several touched down in alabama whereas many as six people may have been killed. earlier, a massive tornado struck tupelo, mississippi, extensive damage there. a state of emergency was declared. the latest weather follows toranados that ripped through the midwest yesterday killing 17 people until arkansas, oklahoma, and kansas emergency officials spent much of the day cinching for survivors. for many, residents lost everything. >> all of these houses are my family's houses, and they are gone gone. you never think it is going to

happen to you. it's devastation, and we ask that you just keep us in your prayers and that wiwe can bounc from all of this. >> that was one incredible story out of survival out of centerhill, carlos strassener and her 80-year-old parents and their dog were able to hide in their closet as the storm passed over them. >> right here. >>retive uers were able to pull that lucky family, fortunately, out of the rubble. rebeccastens h stevens has been tracking this? >> coming in the night now, from georgia and crystal springs, tennessee. you can see when you look at the radar, we have a large circulation over parts of the midwest. so, we are primarily kansas,

missouri, causing super cell thunderstorms to spawn toranados which have been touching down for much of the night. the count, so far today, is 40 tornado reports from the storm prediction center. as we look at the radar, you can see they are pushing through the area, tornado reports became most common today across mississippi initially and then we have seen them start to track in tennessee and georgia and we will expect to still continue that threat of severe weather over georgia throughout the night into the morning hours. in the last 36 hours, the number of tornados is impressive. but note that some of these have been developing in a straight line. as these storms get stronger and strong are, we start to see them line up. this is where the toranados warnings are now for a large part of the southeast and, also, flood warnings stretching into the northeast as very, very heavy rainfall is coming down with many of these storms. so we are even starting to get more rain farther up towards the

new york city area. we will have more details on those storms coming up. >> rough night for many folks. thank you very much, rebecca. coming up tonight, next: beyond the game, donald sterling, alleged words of hate and reaction to his team response owners. former nba marry, john amichi has a lot to say and he joins us. auto pilot, for the road, that is, our google's self-driving car.

>> start with one issue ad guests on all sides of the debate. and a host willing to ask the tough questions and you'll get... the inside story ray suarez hosts inside story weekdays at 5pm et / 2pm pt only on al jazeera america before this week, donald sterling was known primarily for his wealth and the nba team he owns, the last time last time clippers. >> the firestorm is growing. team sponsors are leaving and sterling, himself, is talking. akiko fujita has more from los angeles. >> are you a racist? >> in a new video posted on the

tmz website, donald sterling refused to respond to allegations of racism? >> not true? no, of course not. >> his wife now defending him publicly. . >> the firestorm stems from this private recording released on it. mz's website, reported a conversation between sterling and his ex-girlfriend arguing about an instagram photo she took with magic johnson. al jazeera hasn't independently confirmed the authenticity of the recording: in recordings released by website dedston.com, the man reported to be sterling is discouraging his girlfriendto from bringing african americans to clippers' games?

>> i wasn't raised the way you were raised. >> if you don't feel it, don't come to my games. development bring black peechlt don't? >> you have a whole team that's black. >> i support them and have given them food and clothes and cars and houses. who gives it to them? >> this isn't the first time sterling has been accused of racism. five years ago, former clippers' general manager unsuccessfully sued him for wrongful termination and discrimination claiming sterling had a vision for a southern, plantation-style stru structure for the clippers. >> same year, he settled a multi million dollar lawsuit after he was accused of discriminating against african-americans and latinos in apartment buildings he owns in los angeles. with that history in mind, the l.a. chapter of the naacp responded to questions about why it considered giving sterling a lifetime achievement award. >> mr. sterling's organization

has on a consistent basis brought in numerous minorities and inner city kids. >> his organization gave more money to the community, to the minority community than others. >> the nba is expected to discuss its investigation into sterling tuesday, and clippers' players have remained unified, turning their jersey inside out and protesting -- in protest on the game sunday? >> we are playing, and that's our message. >> coach doc rivers insists the team's focus is on beating the golden state warriors. >> may be a difficult task with protests planned before the game right here at staples center tuesday night. akiko. la loss anglus. >> those withdrawing. it's not clear how much money these lost sponsorships will

cost the clippers or the nba. but joining us to talk about the ongoing fallout is john amichi, a psychologist, retired nba player for the houston rockets and/or land 0 magic. john, welcome back? >> it's interesting because even though i never played for the clippers, i played with donald sterling's reputation was well known. not only are there the documented legal cases that have gone on. there has been a sense or a sensibility around him for as long as he has been in charge of the franchise. >> describe that. >> it's the you know settling idea that while there is superficial pleasantries on the sentence, underneath, minorities are regarded as not quite having the same level of human dignity

as perhaps his colleagues, his white colleagues. >> how difficult is it for players to suit up for an owner that voices this kind of hatred? >> make no mistake, this is a massive distraction. i mean it could not have been timed any more poorly for the clippers. as much as you try to understand that you're focusing on the game and i have heard players say very sensible things about we are not playing for him. we are playing for ourselves. the truth is that this has been a media storm whipped up around the team that is trying to focus on an incredibly task to beat a talented team in the golden state warriors. here they are knowing that the person who is paying many of their salaries looks at them in what i have to say even though it's inflammatory, that plantation style, that you will have them employed to do the manual labor but you don't want them to come to the house. >> what does it mean for the nba? >> it's disappointing because the nba, especially the central

office here in new york, provides itself on the fact that it's a progressive organization that just wants everybody to be able to play at their very best. here, we see a circumstance where there is just a real incongruence. you mentioned some of the responsors who have left the clippers. it's not really about the money, though that's an important, long-term factor. it's the fact that that is an incongruentions with the nba brand. that's something that no organization can tolerate. >> so how do you see this playing out? >> i mean i think tomorrow we will see an announcement from the league. i know that add a.m. silver. there will have to be suspensions, a removal from day to day operational involvement with the clippers. >> the league can't say: you can't be the owner anymore? ? >> very likely not. however, we have seen in baseball with other examples that pressure can be put on owners, a constructive dismissal

that means you are no longer a congruent fit with the organization, with the brand of the nba and as such -- and it would be a very profitable move, selling up and moving on would be in his best interest. >> you wonder. in days gone by, it took quite awhile for marge schott, the way news moves, how long will it take? how much will fans put up with this? >> i don't think the fans will. the idea that you have essentially said that all of the black people whoever show their faces and all of the minorities who show their faces are not welcome. >> that's the antethisis, coming to england and broaden its boundaries so that everyone feels involved. here you have a man at the core of a very important team within the nba giving the exact opposite message. it can't be stood for.

>> what's going on behind the scenes? i have less than a minute. >> i would imagine you have got a bunch of people who are trying to focus on the voice in their head that's about playing basketball while all around them, there is an unending noise and it's an incredibly difficult situation to go on and manage in terms of playing and in terms of the league. this is the worst possible way for adam silver that you want to be introduced to your first crisis. >> sad story, john ameechi, good to have you on the program again. >> thank you. >> we are one step closer to self-driving cars. google releasing footage that proves robot cars can do it all and the cards are mastering city streets things to improved software. our science and technology correspondent jacob ward has this story. >> jon, i hold you in very high regard but i have to tell you, you are a terrible driver. i am also a terrible driver. all humans are bad at driving.

right now, auto accidents are the second leading cause of accidental death in the united states. it is a playing on humanity, our distractability behind a wheel. we drink. we text, get dstric desstriated bots don't. they believe accidents would shrink by as much as 90% if robots were to take the wheel. google says there is a lot to be optimistic when it comes to how far we have gotten in self-driving cars. we have come a long way from 2007 which is when the darpa urban challenge, the crowning achievement of the prototypes of the google self-driving cars we are seeing now. back then, that challenge involved a simulated city landscape and had a bunch of teams come together and duke it out for who could most efficiently cross this landsc e landscape. they were competent. they weren't very good. they would stop forever or inch

their way forward in a way that would get you honked out. google's announcement today is that they have mastered thousands of situations they couldn't deal with and have gotten good at driving the streets of mountainview. they can handle construction crews or a bike in the lane ahead of you or a group of bikes passing through afternoon intersection and people blowing through stop signs and things that would make humans nervous and not know what to do. driving is not a universal language. there are all kind of complications the software will have to handle they vint dealt with yet. if you look at this on a global scale, there are all kind of things that don't make sense. in italy, people say this to say come here. go ahead. >> looks a little bit like the wave of apology here in the united states or in the midwest >> if somebody flashes brights at you from the driver's seat, they are saying you can merge in front of me whereas people flash

their their lights in place of a horn. there is a lot to work out. google claims, john, there are only -- they are only 5 to 10 years away from putting it on the road for all of us. >> thank you very much. our in-depth special: russian: follow the money. the country's rich and powerful hit with new sanctions, but will they have any impact? plus, putin's pockets, his ties to moscow's richest companies. >> every saturday, al jazeera america brings you conversations you won't find anywhere else... >> your'e listening because you wanna see what happen... >> get your damn education... >> talk to al jazeera only on al jazeera america >> oh my...

ending the crisis in ukraine could come down to cold, hard cash, billions of dollars are at stake. russian corporations and the oligarchs in vladimir putin's circling face new sanctions? >> the goal here is not to go after mr. putin personally. the goal is to change his c calculus.

>> will the strategy get putin who some believe is worth billions to change course in ukraine? tonight, our special report: russia. follow the money. >> i am john seigenthaler in new york. it was two months ago that the crisis in ukraine already simmering erupted in, in flames in kiev. the white house says russia has been raising tensions there all along last month. vladimir putin admitted russian troops were in fact on the ground in crimea that region voted to split off from ukraine and was annexed by russia back in march. since then, pro-russia activists seized buildings in eastern ukraine and russian troops staged along the border. washington has responded to the crisis in ukraine with sanctions four times now. our peter sharp is in moscow with more on the measures announced today. >> all of the latest names and companies have strong links to vladimir putin as the u.s. tries

to up the pressure on the russian leader by hitting those close to him. deputy prime minister kndimitri the oil giant and certainithe r technology corporation. they join others close to putin already on the sanctions list like certain aavanov, the president's chief of staff and billionaire gas trader timchenko who felt honda to be punished by washington. the sanctions have had an impact by scaring invest orders into pulling $65,000,000,000 out of russia's economy. also this year, the key stock index has been down by about 15% while russia's currency, the rubbl ruble has lost 90 percent of its value since january. washington said it would deny export listens for any high-tech

equipment that could be of use to the russia military. william hague promised per the sanction -- further sanctions to be revealed on tuesday with another 15 high-ranking officials targeted. >> increasing the scope of the sanctions placed on russia is the right response to the failure to implement the geneva agreement and the continued destabilization of eastern ukraine. >> the kremlin said the sanctions would not go unanswered and the response would be painful to washington. >> this latest set of sanctions is unlikely to cause the kremlin much pain. but, it knows that lying down the road action there are more far-reaching sanctions that would hit energy, banking, and defense. and these would have a serious effect on the russian economy. peter sharp, al jazeera, in moscow. washington announced the new sanctions on russia as the president was in the philippines wrapping up his asia trip.

mike viqueira joins us from manilla tonight. mike, we have heard the russians say publically they may not hurt moscow all that much. what is president obamats strategy on this? >> reporter: well, john, basically the white house is making a virtue of necessity. it is no secret that the europeans are loathe to impose those broader sectorial sanctio sanctions. the white house officials telling reporters traveling with the president last night that those sanctions are still out there. they really want to make the point that this is a threat that is still very much alive. so essentially what they are doing is trying to say as peter reported, there are ripples through the russian economy and the shafrningsz are greater than the sum of their partsanctions the sum of their parts. a lot of people dismiss them as incremental. the president says they are ratcheting up the existing sanctions. these are calibrated. he doesn't know if they are going to work, which is another way of saying, we still have these other more draconian,

dramatic safshingsz in the queue if we want to use them. scalp scan sanctions. ner trying tonctions in the que if we want to use them. scalp scan sanctions. ner trying to change the behavior unless putin changes course. >> what about the sanctions before this? have they been effective at all? >> reporter: well, john, the prior sanctions, it's just that, you mentioned this is the fourth round against individuals, seven more individuals being named now, 17 organizations or entities that are affiliated with those who have already been sanctioned. the white house blistless at any suggestions that they vint gone far enough. they are trying to sell this as an incremental approach, a step by step approach because there aren't that many arrows in the quiver. >> we heard some members of congress saying the president isn't doing enough to punish russia. what else is there? >> reporter: yeah, this is really a sore point with the

president. all throughout this trip, i have been watching these press conferences with the various leaders and it really culminated yesterday. you can see that the president is getting very agitated at the suggestion that he is not doing enough. the question to him yesterday was: is the obama doctorine weak? the president asking incredously. i don't understand what it is everybody wants us to use military force in every situation. it's simply not plausible. those who want to arm ukrainian soldiers or arm the ukrainian government are not going to be able to stop the russian army, he says. he points out that his approach, this diplomatic approach is really the only pragmatic or realistic way of dealing with the many crises on his plate right now in terms of syria, which he terms a success. others would obviously disagree, and in iran, so this is something that the president is very sensitive about, yesterday dismissing the criticism, somebody sitting in an office in new york or d.c. wants me to launch a military strike so they

can go on television and say, the u.s. looks strong. the president dismissing that, you know, obviously very irritated by this kind of criticism, john. >> the president has had a lot on his plate during this trip to asia. mike viqueira has been covering all of it traveling with the president. mike, thank you very much. the president's critics say today's sanctions still don't go far enough and will do little to deescalate that crisis. i spoke with state department jan sachke and asked her: what prompted toddts announcement? >> we have said from the beginning of this process that if russia took esc latory steps, if they continued to take steps that were illegal that moved -- moved their efforts further into ukraine that there would be consequences. we are will have seen the impact of sanctions. we have already seen the impact on the economy in russia and we know that economic tools are one of the most powerful tools we can use to change the behavior in russia. >> but previous sanctions didn't seem to work.

why do you think they will work now? >> well, we have -- they have worked in the sense that we have seen a huge impact on the russian economy. the projections for economic growth are now in the negative numbers. they have had to spend billions of dollars on their own stockmarket. the rubal has been declining. the stockmarket is at historic lows. these are all signs of the impact or impacts of what we have done when it comes to sanctions. >> it seems russia -- -- it has increased at that time? >> we don't expect that things will change overnight. but there is no question that the russian people are going to see what the impact of these sanctions are, and that should have an impact on president putin's actions. >> russian's deputy minister for foreign relations called it meaningless. do you think the kremlin is taking the seriously? >> well, language that that just

doesn't mesh with what we are seeing on the ground. and the facts are that we have seen a tremendous impact on the russian sxle, whether it's an impact on the stockmarket, aecon impact on the stockmarket, a, projections for economic growth. if the russian leadership really cares about the russian people, they should be taking a look at those factors as well. >> i am sure you have heard what senator bob corker from tennessee called it, a slap on the wrist. is this a watered-down approach? >> absolutely not. one, we have sanctioned individuals who are close to president putin who have had a direct impact on these illegal actions we have seen in ukraine and we have seen the impact on the russian economy. there are many people out there who want to play games with what should happen here and what shouldn't happen here. but there is no military solution to the situation in ukraine. there is no way that the ukrainian military can come up

to par with the russian military and the best help, the best assistance we can provide is by putting in place economic help to the ukrainian government and by also taking steps to deter actions by the russians. >> jen, how coordinated an approach is this with the european union? obvious obviously some countries in europe rely very heavily on russia's energy. are they willing to go stay the courts and even get tougher with these sanctions? >> reporter: there is no question that europe has a stronger connection to russia economically than the united states, however, the steps russia has been taking are illegal. we have been working in lock-steps with -- lock-step with our european partners. they have indicated they are also prepared to announce another round of sanctions. we have been working in close touch with them about a round of sectoral sanctions if the situation should warrant. so we never expected it would be exactly the same sanctions.

it's about taking complementary parallel steps and we have been doing that at every step in the process. >> so if russia continues its aggression, then the united states will try to impose new sanctions in addition to these? >> we have always had that tool at our disposal. yes, if russia continues to take esc lat tory steps, there will be more consequences. >> jen, it's good to have you on the program. thank you very much? >> my pleasure. the sanctions don't touch putin personally but each round tightens restrictions on the people in the companies that are believed to contribute to putin's welt. dailies on what he is worth, that's secret. but by somealth. dailies on what he is worth, that's secret. but by some estimates, et cetera a billion air. david shuster. >> in russia, putin refers to himself as a humble servant. he reported his salary as 5.8 milli 5.8 million rubals or about $187,000 and estimated his total net worthy at less thank

$500,000. but for years, there has been speculation that putin is rich, super rich. a popular russian political scientist and putin critic says et cetera worth as much as $70,000,000,000. according to bilkovsky, he owns 97 of a gas company and 4 and a half of gathersprom, the largest natural gas sflier in the world. the owners have murky shareholder structures. complicating matters, wealth is often held through shell companies, frontmen and off-shore accounts. six years ago, the rumors surrounding putin even reached then u.s. secretary of state, condoleezza rice. she sent a cable and cited a russian opposition source who said putin was nervously seeking to secure his future immunity from potential law enforcement investigations into his alleged

i will lei will listi illicit p. his watch collection alone is worth $700,000. a few years ago, he gave a 10,000 dollar watch to a sigh beerian boy he met on vacation. former russian politician boris nemsof issued a report in 2012 that said putin has access to 50 aircraft, 20 homes and four yachts. >> translator: in his eyes, it all belongs to him. >> putin spokesman told a russian newspaper newspaper all of the yachts, planes and palaces are state property that putin uses according to the law. the fact is, only putin and his closest friends may know the full extent of his fortunate. if it's close to $70,000,000, 0 $70,000,000,000, as his critics claim, that would put putin near microsoft founder bill gates, the wealthiest man on the planet.

david shuster, al jazeera. >> joining us to talk about the increased economic pressure on russia and president putin and his associates, mark adamanis, contributor to forbes magazine mark, welcome? >> good to be here. >> how is russia's economy really doing? >> not very well. the spokesperson from the state department was quite accurate in her description of the pressure the russian economy is under. it has not performed this poorly since the global economic crisis in 2009. the trends are all sharply negative. inflation is above target, the rubal is weakening, attack stockmarket down, capital fleeing. it really is a mess. i have long thought that the price that russia would pay for intervening would be a natural market reaction, you know, when invest orders see behavior like that, when ne see a country annex part of a neighboring

territory, that quite naturally spea speaks them and convinces them this is not the kind of plates they want to do business. russia has had problems with capital flight but they have accelerated in the first couple of months this year, tens of billions of dollars fled the country. >> what does it mean for russian main street, average russians? >> so far, it has not filtered down to the man in the street. so far, very notional. >> can only last so long. so up until now, you employment has been quite low. the russian economy was lowing over most of the past year and a half but it was still at full employment. so, wages were still increasing modestly. so most people didn't feel much of an impact. if the current trrndz continue for type of longerends continue for type of longer, they will. particularly inflation is sensitive in russia. you have a large number of pensioners on fixed encloses and you have large percentage of the

population that's been quite a lot of income on things that are very sensitive to inflation, food, fuel, that kind of thing. >> what about sanctions? >> i don't think the new sanctions will have much of a direct impact in terms of how the average russian experiences it. to the extent they create additional uncertainty, they clearly local complicate matters and weaken the economy further. the sanctions that have been instituted so far are modest in scope and i don't think they would have much of an overall impact on the economy. >> it hurt vladimir putints friends? >> you know, his close circle is known as a very loyal group of people. i think it would take quite a lot to convince them to turn against him. i don't think the steps that have been taken so far would do that. i think it would need to be more radical and draftic. the stuff that would get his inner circle to turn against him, i don't think anyone is really weighing those options right now. >> what about investors putting money into russia? >> i think that has come to a

complete halt. the capital flight, there is a lot of the year left. already, this year, almost as much capital has fled as in all of 2013. so, for an investment has never been when they are doing well, foreign direct investment was never that high. it's going to go to almost nothing now and russia is going to have a very, very severe problem with capital flight platform domestic investment was too low and it's trending downwards. it's a problem. >> other than cutting off fuel to europe, is there anything else economically that russia can do to fight back? its options are pretty limited. there is -- i do think that much more drastic sanctions are really going to happen did be aren't going to happen because the europeans won't go along with it. they are depend event on russian energy. at the same time, the russians are depend event upon selling that energy. it's possible that they try to

cut supplies to europe and reroute some of that oil to china, but, you know, a lot of the infrastructure isn't in place for the russians to sell their natural gas to china. maybe years down the line, that's more of a possibility. but as of now, the russian budget is depend event on energy and they need to sell that and it's only natural given the way the pipelines work that they are going to sell a lot of it to europe. >> great information. it's great to have you on the program. thank you. >> thank you. >> and as we continues our special, russia, follow the money, sanctions on russia could be just the start of economic pain as we just heard. we will look at the potential ripple effect on the u.s. economy and beyond, coming up.

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>> it's a nightmarish alternative reality, sometimes you can't win... >> an original investigative series. when justice is not for all... the system with joe beringer only on al jazeera america an al jazeera special report: russia: >> with the u.s. ratcheting up sanctions, the question remains : will the strategy work?

wesley clark spoke to ali velshi in los angeles. he said it's important to keep up the pressure on russia. >> it's a lot less expensive for the united states to act now to deter putin. sanctions may work. there is no one who can say sanctions won't work. but putin wants ukraine real bad, and he's been working toward it for a long time. from his standpoint, he might rationalize it as i am going to pay a price in the short-term but we will recover from that and in two or three years when ukraine's prosperous and stable and part of russia, part of greater russia or new russia, by then the west will trade with us because they have to have and they have to have our injury. >> 1991 when the soviet union collapsed, russia's ties were nearly non-existent. a lot has changed since then. last year there were about $38,000,000,000 in trade between the u.s. and russia. the u.s. imports about twice as

much as it sells to russia, buying mostly oil and gas, fe fertili fertilizers, products and nuclear fuel. a few american kuntz trees like boeing and exxon mobile are big in russia. boeing sold about $2,000,000,000 worth of sxhil equipment in 2013. exxonmobil has a joint $3.2 billion deal with russia. russian petroleum company to hunt for oil in the black sea and russian arctic waters but all of this pales in comparison to russia's trade with the european union. >> amounted to about $370,000,000,000 last year. joining us to talk about this is axil merck, a global investment form. axel, welcome. >> great to be with you. >> how are the markets responding to all of this? >> well, they have beensponding gradually with your previous guest pointed it out, the rubal

as weakened, the russian stockmarket has not' been doing so well. access to credit has been difficult. this latest announcement of sanctions, i haven't seen any particular response. it's been widely anticipated and in my view, it's mostly cosmetic. >> which sectors of the russian economy have been affected so far? >> well, you don't see it on the street at this stage. what has been effective is the access to credit. both western banks but, also, asian banks are very reluctant to extend credit. and that is ultimately a problem in the medium term. it's not something you notice right away. so clearly, the russians or russian banks have learned how to conduct business, but you run an economy that needs to borrow money, then you have a few issues, a few challenges. and so these are challenges that are in the medium term problematic. it continues to discourage incre investment in russia. as far as day-to-day is concerned, the overall impact has been limited. >> we mentioned a couple of

corporation that do business with russia, big business, boeing and exxonmobil, too. but there are others. the question is really whether or not the united states and/or europe could be affected and could be hurt by what's going on. it could be hurt by the sanctions? >> well, i mean if you take a company like exxon, first of all, with whom they do the exploration, today, they agreed that they will proceed. en if there were sanctions, exxon is a diversified business. they face challenges all the time. i think it's a bigger issue for western europe that is hugely dependent on gas and thousands of companies in europe that conduct business with eastern europe and russia well knows it very well. conversely, russia is dependent on getting the proceeds of selling the gas. at the same time, i do believe we are talking about profitability t economics, gdp growth.

leaders of countries sometimes have very different priorities. putin may have a strategic priority to do something with ukraine. it's going to sacrifice the short-term profitability: his inceptionives are more strategic. >> you talk a lot about oil and gas and could this crisis have an impact on the price of gasoline, let's say, in the united states and/or europe? >> it already does. gas prices have been elevated. and clearly, you can blame or credit many things for the daily price moves, but, yes, i mean, wheat prices, for example, russia being the world's largest exporter. wheat prices are affected. gas prices are affected as well. global market, so it does have a global impact. similarly while in the u.s., it's only a few large business that conduct bids there. if the european suffers from all of this, well, that slowdown in the european union has an impact on the u.s. so think about if the gas

pipeline were to be turned off for europe, well, clearly, that slowdown in europe is going to affect u.s. exports to europe if nothing else. yes. >> i was going to say what would it take for big time investtors go back into russia now? >> well, just like in any market, what you need is clarity. it doesn't really matter whether taxes are high or regulation is high >> but you want to know: what are the rules of engagement? what are the laws? what is going to happen tomorrow? and when you don't know whether sanctions will be more severe? are you going to stay away? as long as there is uncertainty, people are reluctant to invest. >> as they should axel merck. thank you for insight. in the crisis this ukraine, here is where things stand right now. sanctions on russian officials and campaigns aring up. the most recent u.s. sanctions target 7 influential russians, including members of vladimir

putin's inner circle and some of his closest add advisories. one est most notable figures is igor sechen, the president of the state-owned oil company, roseneft. there have been four rounds of western sanctions imposed on russia, targets including 45 russian citizens and 19 companies. the u.s. warns it is prepared to take more steps if russia refused to change course in ukraine. here is the image that caught our attention today. a freeze frame, a pro-russian militia member puts an assault rifle in the hands of a small child. headlines coming up in just a second. r

welcome to al jazeera america. i am john seeingenthaler in new york. secretary of state kerry has apologized for saying israel was in danger of becoming an apartheid state. he made the comments on friday when describing a peace prices and in his apology, kerry said the word "apartheid" was best left out of the debate. washington is hitting moscow with another round of sanction over the crisis in ukraine. the latest measures target several individuals and more than a dozen companies with close ties to russia's president. severe storms hitting the midwest and the south tonight. multiple topics touching down in alabama where several sdreths been reported. there are tornado watches and warnings in mississippi, alabama, tennessee, louisiana and sponsors, the carmax, state farm and red bull are abandoning los angeles clippers.

they're reacting of racist comments allegedly by team owner donaldstering. those are the headlines. i am jonathan seigenthaler. "america tonight" with joey chen is next. ♪ on "america tonight" -- >> oh, my god! there' there's a tornado! [ screaming ] >> millions in the path of what could be days of killer weather. what is behind this massive destruction? also tonight is it good news or just money? the often down side of a high-plains boom town.