>> tracking borderland's indicate, mexican, efforts how both of them failed. plus a sneak peek on next week am finale. ukraine ratchets up its resistance level. do animal lovers put rats before people? ahead. >> this is a day many iraqis are seeing as historic.

>> this is the first election in iraq since u.s. troops pull out of there, three years ago. >> five years after the great recession we are still not fully recovered. >> gdp grew at .1% in the quarter. >> that's the slowest pace in more than a year. >> there is no way to stop the growing unrest. >> pro-russian separatists, growing credi strength in ukraine. >> purple fingertips were on display, symbols of a person's voiting. it'person's voting. with al qaeda led fighters and other sectarian groups fighting violence, much of iraq was on lock down.

check for car bombs and surnts insurgent in basra and other cities. 14 people killed. u.n. special representative nikol acre nikolai vladinov. >> security and violence have deteriorated over the past few weeks and particularly during the campaign period we have seen many attacks on polling stations and candidates. >> meanwhile in baghdad many streets were closed in what seems to have been a successful effort to keep insurgents at bay. prime minister nouri al maliki is the front runner to put a government together for what would be his third term in office. for more, i'm joined by ambassador almai kazildad,

currently a counselor for the center of strategic studies. ambassador good of you to join us tonight. you were there after iraq's democracy was being born after the fall of saddam hussein and you say these elections are especially important. why? >> because iraq as the u.n. envoy said is going through a difficult period. it is sectarian tensions , regional arrivals hav rivals hag ira pulling iraq apart. the defining fault line of the middle east is impacting iraq extremely negatively. also tensions between the kurds in the and the central government has been on the rise because of the agreement on oil

expowrts. exports. so this election could be a renewal of if things don't go well, a further exacerbation of tensions in iraq. so it's an important election. >> nouri al maliki, you encouraged him to run back in 2006. but since 2010, especially he seems to be acquiring more and more power. he's the prime minister, he's the head of the armed forces, iraq's minister of defense, he's consolidated all sorts of power, and in fact, people people say that even in the judiciary isn't independent, and the judiciary is allowing him to have a third term. has he become too much of an their authoritarian? >> you have a record and the situation with the difficulty that it

has, could affect him negatively in terms of the prospects for remaining in power. i see three potential scenarios as a result of the vote. one, if he wins big, he's likely to stay. but there's a possibility that in the aftermath of the vote, a bigger block than the block that prime minister maliki has could be formed and present an alternative candidate who could lead the government. the third alternative if he doesn't win big but nevertheless is bigger than the other factions or grouping, that you will have a hard time perhaps taking months, or a year, to form a government. and at the end maybe an alternative to prime minister maliki could come from his own party to replace him, if it looks like he cannot form the government. that's what happened in 2006. whether prime minister jaffray from the same party as prime

minister maliki could not form the government and then at the end mr. maliki emerged as a candidate for prime minister. >> now what do you think the best scenario is? the new york times again said that many american officials would welcome his defeat. >> well, i think of course this is a decision that the iraqis will have to make. clearly, iraq needs changes and reforms. it needs to move towards building a consensus not just with sunni and shia arabs, but this could be a time for a new start with a new agenda, and a renewal for the country. >> that unity is certainly what maliki is calling for in his campaign slogan which is,

together we build iraq. but as you say shias and sunnies are killing each other in sectarian violence last year. do you think maliki could be the leader that moves them away from that? >> well, if he, as a result of this election and because of the necessity to be able to form a government , that is a reform maliki coming with an agenda that can unite iraqis that can be an option. my judgment is that he is going to have a difficult time unless he wins big which is not anticipated. but if he wins big he could form a majority government and that could if he goes that route increase tensions with not only the sunni air abs bu ar

arabs, if he on the other hand comes with an agenda of power sharing, build consensus on decentralizing iraq, allowing the sunni provinces to become independent regions, participate pa tr participatory, government, that could be a change. but i see a higher probability that at the end of the process, that he haas may have -- maize have a difficult time to form a government and iraq may be in a period where an acting government perhaps with maliki at the top governs iraq. but since the government will not reflect the results of the election, it may have lesser authority and with a smaller mandate than a new government that reflects the results of the election. >> quick question for you.

despite all that insecurity despite the vinyls everywhere in iraq, is it a better government than when saddam was in power? >> there's no question, the majority of iraqis were better off than under saddam, particularly in the kurdish region and in sudan. but significant numbers were worse off than they were before saddam was overthrown and that is the nature of the situation currently in iraq. >> ambassador it is a pleasure to have you on the show. thank you very much for being with us. >> it's great to be with you. >> now to ukraine. the country' why can provisional president said, the country is under lock down. the latest in morning a dozen eastern cities now in the hands of pro-russian separatists. admitted ukraine's military has lost control.

>> translator: the main reason is the security services and the ministry in the donetske and luhansk region are not able to perform their duties. they are defense less. >> continue to deny that his country is foment many the arrest. this. there are units suggesting that our instructors are there. i declare: there are neither russian instructors nor special units nor troops there. >> and putin is threatening to retaliate against western sacks saying there will -- sanction -- sanctions. two cares? apparently not americans. registered voters across party lines want the u.s. to be less active on the world stage. joining us now from washington, d.c. is strobe talbot, president of the brookings institution

served in the clinton administration from 1993 to 2001. for the new independent states of the former soviet union. pro-russian forces, are taking over, president putin denies involvement just as he did in crimea. for all practical purposes you are saying he has already invaded ukraine? >> he certainly has. these are not just pro-russian forces, these are pro-russian forces that are highly inif i recall traited by russian forces. what we are hearing from president putin is another stunning case of the big lie that we can remember from decades ago, which is now front and center. everybody should know it's a lie. and are that is part of the -- and that is part of the outrage we're seeing. >> i think big lie you are

referring to the old sophi soviet propaganda? >> that's right, antonio, paws of the inaccurate information that's coming out including by the way photographs of identifiable russian officers who are in ukraine running these operations. the very fact that the russians put on masks, is almost to throw in our face the fact that they're trying to disguise the fact that these are in a lot of caress russian forces. but of course, the russian media, that is the media from the russian federation has a

monopoly of information within russia so it's harder for the truth to get back into russia. but it's not hard to get into ukraine. pretty much everyone in ukraine understands what's happening. as you said earlier, this is not a matter of whether the russians will invade ukraine. ukraine. >> what is putin's goal to create chaos, to make the elections a failure or is he trying to execute this putin doctrine of intervening wherever he thinks ethnic russians are threatened and create a new russian block endowmented by russia? >> all of the above. the first two things you mentioned, as you know and your viewers know there is a very important election coming up on the 25th may that is supposed to give all of the citizens of the supposedly independent sovereign state of ukraine a chance to elect a government to

replace the extraordinarily corrupt and brutal regime that was really -- doesn't even deserve to be called a government at the end, of former president yanukovych. and what putin is trying to do is make sure that doesn't happen. that he can disrupt enough of the ukraine geographically, and enough of the population there, so that they simply won't be able to pull off an all-country election. >> but you said that this kind of expansionism could back fire on putin in a whole series of ways. >> well, as you said a moment ago, the ideology that vladimir putin has put forward is what you might call as a replacement for the ideology of the old soviet union marxism-leninism, great russian

chawfn chauvinism, at least 80% of the population is russian or sla slavic. there is 20% of the population that is not slavic, not russian, and are going to feel able aim alien ated. russian-speaking cultural russian orthodox in their religion and that means that large parts of the russian federation perhaps as much as a third of the russian land mass, which is nabtde inhabited by people who are not russian, which will be subject to annexation of other countries. >> and you

say, al qaeda could play into the mix. >> sure, it already is, antonio. there is a branch of al qaeda that calls itself the cawks caucasus califate. ingustania and dagestan, where there has already been a lot of secessionism. >> the head of the council on foreign relations richard haas wrote this week that american credit diplomacy is flirting with fecklessness. that it is a bully pull pet moment for him. will he use that bully pull pulpit and how should he use it? >> i should certainly think so. as you alluded to at the beginning oops of our conversation this wall street journal poll that just came out

show that a lot of americans, a majority of americans would like to ski the u.s. play a lest less activist role today. what's happening in ukraine and around the periphery of the russian federation and in fact what's happening inside the russian federation and president obama, i think, has an opportunity, and i would even respectfully say an obligation, to explain to the american people, why this is so important. and of course one reason it's important to us as a nation is that we're the leader of nato. and nato is going to have to beef up its capacity to deter and to contain further russian expansionism, particularly of course if it were to be directed against fellow members of the nato alliance. and that includes three former republics of the

ussr. estonia latvia and lithuania, two of which have fairly large russian speaking populations. at any time could test the mettle of nato, in the baltic states as he is doing in ukraine. >> ambassador strobe talbot, it's a pleasure to have you on the show. thank you very much. >> thank you antonio. coming up a sneak peek at borderland's finale. and america's economy has a hard time weathering our economy. china is set to surge forward. hermela aregawi , our social media director. what's happening hermella?

>> i'll let you know what you think. @ajconsiderthis and on our facebook and google plus pages.

>> a big day in financial news. first the polar vortex that gripped the nation last winter may have frozen the economy in place.

numbers from the commerce department last week, shows the gross domestic product crept up a minuscule 10th of 1% in the first months of 2013, way below market estimates. however the stock market didn't seemed to mind as the dow jones industrials closed up over 45 on wednesday, hitting a new high. reports say that china is now on the verge of surpassing the u.s. to become the world's biggest economy. for more on the state of the economy and where it might be headed i'm joined by peter marisi, former director of the office of economics at the u.s. international trade commission. peter, good of you to join us again, good to see you. you wrote wednesday that president obama and many wallets forecasters had expected a breakout year in 2014 and in fact many of the forecasters felt this would be a big year. will these gdp numbers dim those

expectations? >> i think they would have to. to just braim i blame it on colr is not adequate. recovery in housing, speculators buying foreclosed properties that is going away. moving to apartments for a reason. heavily burdened by student debt and the fed's recent moves have raised mortgage rates which have raised the cost of buying a home by about 12%, just the mortgage rates alone. there are lots of things going on not just winter weather. >> the retail is down in january and we know that retail is a big engine for our economy. >> actually the consumer sector was pretty good in these numbers. what was missing was any kind of business investment at all and we wouldn't expect winter weather to have a big impact on businesses cloises about -- choice et cetera about for example installing information

technology equipment or going forward with more office building space and buying machinery for manufacturing. american business is doing very well. but it's doing best of all abroad. so profits are up, the dow is booming, american companies are happy but americans still don't have jobs. >> let's look at a few of these things. there was a positive sign in manufacturing retail and sales. an economist told bloomberg news that the economy is improving and the tentative outlook is good. 220,000 jobs in april, that sound good, peter, given what we've seen since the recession. but even if the labor department job numbers on friday support an increase in jobs at that level that's still not enough. >> we need about 350 to 400,000 jobs a month.

we're looking at a year when we're going to create about 200,000 jobs going forward. that's good. the economy is going to improve in the second quarter not simply because of warmer weather. remember we adjust or the that in these numbers. more importantly consumers will likely continue to go forward. i think car sales will improve and we will have more housing but we are not going to have a breakout year. what is more likely is that through the course of this recovery over the last 19 quarters the economy's grown at about 2.3%. i expect that it will be a little better, maybe 2.6. but frankly we ought to be growing at 2.4. i'll give you two numbers -- >> you think it's still going to be 2.6, despite the 10th of a% in the first quarter? >> that's the high. splitting a lot of hairs let me give you two numbers. since the beginning of the century through both bush and obama through recession and

recovery the average rate of growth of the u.s. can economy has been 1.7% less than two. for reagan-bush, clinton years, it was high i. higher. why have we been gross with a conservative and liberal administration, there are addressing. >> what are those fundamentals then? >> both the bush and clinton tradition agreed, the chinese dump a lot of good goods into or economy, but they don't buy a lot from us. they get the jobs and we get unemployment. we're in a globalized economy. when you are in a globalized economy you have to do what you do well. and we're not drilling for oil offshore. you know, oil republics's up a couple million barrels a day but frankly the americans shouldn't be importing any oil at all.

we should be able to increase production by about 500 million beacials and get -- barrels and get our fleet out of the persian gulf. that would make americans happier. among other things we have one of the most inefficient hire education systems in the world. it's run by a comical group of managers that call thesms university presidents that are -- themselves university presidents. >> very quick last question for you china you brought it up. it's on the verge of surpassing us as the largest economy. any significance do that or is that something that's going to happen no matter what? >> well you know if my neighbor has six kids and i have two, they're going ohave a bigger grocery bill. we have to accept that china is going to be a bigger economy if it doesn't implode. simply because there are five times as many people there. and if we keep going on the track we're going though, we're going to have other issues with

china which are going to be very unfortunate, because we are not doing the things we need to do, to grow here. i think it's not so much the size of china. it's whether china surpass he us technologically 20 years from now, because we are not investing, not generating the kinds of skilled labor from our university as we need. we are not reforming health care and we are not properly dealing with the terrible thaings go on street. that is what keep us from growing. >> peter, thank you for coming. >> take care. 27 people arrested in an immigration protest in washington, d.c. on wednesday. their families have been split up by deportations. it's the latest push for reform on the complex and wide-ranging issue. many of you have been watching the series borderland on our network. the show follows six people with different points of view,

tracking the 6,000 migrant who have died as they cross the border over the past three years. allison came into the show firmly against reform. at the last show we see her exhausted and at a breaking point. >> for these people that are dying out here right now that's all that i see is death. and it's ridiculous that our system and the governments have done this for the people and make them want to run for their lives. there's got to be a way to stop this. because i mean like these people they really don't have a chance. >> sylvia longmire joins us from tucson arizona. a long time analyst of the mexican drug war. sylvia good of you to join us tonight.

you have worked for years on issues concerning the mexican border war. borderland points out 70,000 have been killed since former mexican president calderon, border crossings and arguably even some u.s. territory. >> they do. and that's why cross-border migration has really evolved so much in the last few years. it used to be hiring a coyote crossing the borders, the biggest thing you have to fear is perhaps the elements and perhaps getting caught by the border patrol. now you have to be worried about being targeted about the cartels who are now controlling those quie oats, being held -- coyotes, being held or executed, coyote possibly raping you murdering you leaving you for dead north of the border on u.s. territory. >> you've written that something has to be done to keep more

people, all these people from dying as they're trying to reach america. borderland really hammers that home, hundreds are dying every year on u.s. territory in the deserts. in a review you wrote, you wrote that we could benefit from watching the document are you. >> especially watching borderland it is hard to be at least at -- lease not compassionate. i come from an immigrant family. my family came from cuba in the 1960s. i know a lot of history of latin america and the culture and the people. the vast majority of latin america doesn't have that benefit. all politics aside and understanding that these are real people. they have real fears and are coming from countries that the economic situation is so bad, they fear going back to that place more than they fear any punishment that our government

or our law enforcement agencies can impose upon them coming here. >> and the show indicates the horrors that they are willing to go through. journey through the desert and they hear about a shocking and underreported obstacle, rape, men who prey on immigrant women. can pg. >> the fact that women are, then are willing to make in order to have a better life.

>> it's sick to know that as a woman, not only do you have to worry about getting sick, breaking an ankle, you also have to worry about being raped. this world is an evil world. >> there are so many things we vice president heard of before. and the mexican government certainly is not helping but american policies aren't helping, either. >> no. they're not. and again because it's such a controversial issue and the country is so torn over it and there are so many issues whether or not it's businesses that are benefiting from illegal immigrants, dreamers and wanting to allow especially young children not having them separated from their parents or being allowed to have an education, the policies are just not going forward. and just the fact that there's no political will to move forward on either side of the political aisle is extremely frustrating for people on both

sides of the border. >> and we've seen the complexity of the issue over the past three episodes of the documentary. in your new book you discuss why drones, border fences and other policies have not worked and again you bring up the politician on our sides of the bother and the massive cartel on the other. and have we solved the problem? can we solve the problem? >> the problem is we haven't made border security a problem, you take a look at the last seven city and count san antoni seven state of the union speeches, they haven't made it a priority. folks associated with terrorist associations like hezbollah, violent criminals violent drug smugglers killing each other on u.s. soil then economic

migrants, people coming here that don't want to hurt us don't have any criminal background whatsoever and want to make a better lives for themselves. if you are able to treat that last group at a legislative issue, policy issue, and stop make it a law enforcement issue all of a sudden you release billions of dollars and thousands and thousands of law enforcement officers to focus on the truly bad people that are coming leer to harm us. and i think if you just -- that's a first step to -- and it could be a real game changer if we could just prioritize. >> again the book is border insecurity. sylvia longmire, it's really a pleasure to have you. >> thank you very much. >> and borderland airs here at. >> hermella. >> ploont, convictof raping one of his students in 2011.

last fall, 47-year-old stacy dean rambold served just one month in jail for the crime. the short sentence was part of the deal that prosecutors made after losing their number one witness. 14-year-old victim commitsuicide before testifying. violating the terms. he had failed to notify authorities of sexual relationships he had with at least one adult, and had unsupervised visits with miles an hour in his family. even before this information became public, the case was already on a lot of people's radars. the judge who sentenced rambold sparked protest whether he suggested that the victim was partially are responsible for her rape. she appeared older than her

chronological age and was quote probably as much in control of the situation as the defendant. the judge has since apologized for the statement and a new judge will be assigned to the case as as soo as soon as next . let us know what you think about there case. should rambold serve more time? you can tweet us @ajconsiderthis. this is a very antonio. >> thank you hermella. why tourists are likely to are lose a fortune, at other than >> al jazeera america presents borderland's dramatic conclusion >> no one's prepared for this journey. >> our teams experience the heart breaking desperation >> we're all following stories of people that have died in the desert. >> and the importance...

>> experiencing it, has changed me completely... >> of the lives that were lost in the desert >> this is the most dangerous part of your trip... >> an emotional finale you can't miss... >> we got be here to tell the story. >> the final journey borderland continues... only on al jazeera america

>> on real money with ali velshi, a yearlong series, america's vanishing middle class... >> i'm on a mission, that i have to keep this business going... >> three families struggling every day >> we had to pull the whole retirement fund... >> real stories... real people... real advice... >> you need to pay the water bill, if you don't pay it, we're shutting your water off in a half hour >> how will you survive? >> the stakes are so high... >> america's middle class: rebuilding the dream on real money with ali velshi on al jazeera america >> today's data dive heads to las vegas. more people visited in march

than in any month in vegas history. 3.7 million tourists. that means almost 83 people arrived every minute in march. that's right, 83 people per minute. and they're not all going to gamble. the new york times reported that in 1950, casinos took in, now, many more people come for the shows, restaurants, shopping and night clubs. in fact, seven of america's top ten grossing night clubs in 2012 were in las vegas. going to some can be ridiculously expensive. it will run you easily more than $10,000 a night to reserve a table at the mandarin hotel's night club. vegas is a major player for conventions. it hosts nearly 22,000 of them every year bringing in more than 5 million people. that's not to say the city doesn't rely on betting. the vegas strip rakes in 6.2 billion every year, moarnlg

more than doubling ne new jersey's take. vegas, failed to make it stated goal by less than 60,000 people but sin city still has a long way to go to catch orlando. mickey mouse's home city brought in about 59 million people. new york pulled in 54.3 million people. while vegas was slammed by the recession, losing one of every six jobs on the strip, it's coming back and job creation is outpacing the national average. can coming up we know americans love our pets but are we going too far? a new book says many people prefer them to the humans in their home.

al jazeera america gives you the total news experience anytime, anywhere. more on every screen. digital, mobile, social. visit aljazeera.com. follow @ajam on twitter. and like aljazeera america on facebook for more stories, more access, more conversations. so you don't just stay on top of the news, go deeper and get more perspectives on every issue. al jazeera america.

interamericans love their cats and dogs so much, we've almost turned them into citizens. 90% consider their pets as family and 83% refer to parents. if you look at the stories on the web and most seen videos you can believe that dogs and cats will be near the top. we not only pamper them and spend 55 billion on them last year, they have more rights and privileges. david grim is deputy news manager, author of a new book, citizen canine. our relationship with cats and dogs. as i

said, lea last year, 55 billion, i'm one of the 90% who consider my dog part of our family. i am one that considers myself as the daddy to my dog. that's my dog on tv. how do we get to where our pets are more like our family and not as property like they were in the past? >> it's been remarkable. cats have lived with us for 10,000 years, dogs for upwards of 30,000 years but it's only in the past couple of decades that they've been considered bona fide family members on this large scale. citing some statistic that you just cited. in the last couple of decades technology, you know, we just live in this world that's filled with the internet with mobile devices, we all go out to a cafe and we spend more time staring at our iphones than we stair at each other and this is robbed

us of human interaction. dogs and cats anchor us. the dog is the friend that doesn't tune you out, the cat sits on your lap and pace attention to you. your human companions are surfing the web. they've become family members because they fill this emotion void in our lives. >> we become more isolated and we need them more. there's been a big movement toward granting pets legal rights, it's gone as far as people really think they should be legal persons. you bring up a case that we dealt with here on our show about chimpanzees and there's an effort that lost in court trying to give chimpanzees similar rights to those of humans. where is the middle ground that we should reach? or what should that place be as to what the legal rights of animals of our pets should be today? >> well, a lot of people that argue for more rights for pets

aren't necessarily argue for the rights of pets to drive or vote, but basic rights such as the right to a basic level of medical care, the right to be free from abuse, the right to live in a good home and a good environment. similar to the rights we would have for children. that's sort of the middle ground we're seeking. not saying we should turn them into full human beings with full human rights, but acknowledge that they are members of our family and they deserve to be protected this the courts as well. >> and there have been a series of rights that have protected animals much more than we have in the past. >> that's right. there's just as of a couple of months ago, all 50 states in the united states have felony anticruelty laws which are especially harsh if you abuse a cat or dog, the fines can be up to $125

,000, and terms in prison. owners have successfully sued for emotional distress damages for tens of thousands of dollars if their pets are harmed or killed. cats and dogs can even inherit money just like children can. there have been lots of movement in the courts and the legislatures that have elevated the status of these animals. they're technically property but a lot of these decision have really blurred that line between property and person. >> after hurricane katrina, we saw people who wouldn't leave their homes because the rescuers didn't want to tray the pets with them. there is a law that compels rescue agencies to have plans on how to save the pets. >> that's right. nearly half of the people who didn't evacuate during hurricane katrina, the rescuers would say, we're not going to take their cat or

dog, the people said, then fine i'm not going to leave. and a lot of those people died. the pets act compels rescue agencies to save pets as well as people. in future natural disasters, and a lot of natural disasters post-katrina you saw pets being rescued also people. >> a pet named napoleon, we have come to realize that they actually understand, are much more sentient than they were thought to be in the past. >> exactly. there's been an explosion in canine research, especially in the last 15 years. and the video of napoleon shows that when an experimenter points at something, like points to a cup, the dog knows what cup to go to.

that may seem like a simple skill but believe it or not chimpanzees can't do that. revolution, oh reply gosh there's all things that dogs can do, empathy, skeptics of empathy empathy -- concepts of morality. there is not as much we know about the fee line mind as we know about the canine mind. >> the fe fee feline is a little bit more complex than canine. the show may be over but the conversation continues, the and watch us on

>> i'm ali velshi, the news has become this thing where you talk to experts about people, and al jazeera has really tried to talk to people, about their stories. we are not meant to be your first choice for entertainment. we are ment to be your first choice for the news. >> welcome to aljazeera america. i'm del walters. and these are the stories we're following for you. [ crying ] >> shock at first sight, followed by courage to carry on after the devastating tornadoes that tore through the southeast. and rescue operations continue at this very area in areas where the floodwaters are still rising. in the wake of donald sterling's ban, nba owners now talking about the next move for the league.