vivacious and always full of life. as well as the youngest cabin crew member on board described as happy-go-lucky, very jovial, and a good person at heart. >> that's terrific. thank you. our coverage continues with "inside story." >> president obama said the do downing of a passenger plane over ukraine is a wake-up call for europe and the world. while he supports israel's ground support in gaza he advocates a return to the u.s.-brokered peace talks. word crisis zone is this "inside story."

>> hello, i'm libby casey. until this week the trouble in ukraine was a world away, and the pro russian fight was a region affair with ominous overtones. since russia and ex-crimea there have been questions and worries about what vladimir putin would do next. in an instant the story grabbed the world's attention when a missile shot down a malaysian passenger jet killing over 300 people. as the u.s. wrestled with its role in these fights we're talking about american powered influence. >> reporter: when conflict and crisis erupt around the world the president picks up the pho phone. >> this morning i spoke with prime minister netanyahu of israel about the situation in gaza. we discussed israel's military operation in gaza including its efforts to stop the threat of terrorist infiltration through

tunnels into israel. >> reporter: on thursday israel's army began a ground operation to end the rocket raining down from gaza. the troop offensive into the gaza strip is aimed at destroying rocket launch sites and tunnels used by hamas. >> i reaffirm my strong support for israel's right to defend itself. no nations should accept rockets being fired into its borders or terrorists tunneled into its territory. as i was having a conversation with prime minister netanyahu, sirens went off in tel aviv. i make clear that we're deeply concerned about the risk and the loss of more incident life. >> reporter: what makes this such a challenge for the president is the long-standing support of israel by the united states. all the while recognizing the conflict is not fought on even terms. gaza and it's nearly 2 million

residents have endured almost two weeks of airstrikes by israeli military forces who say they tried to avoid civilians. still 250 palestinians have been killed. the thousands of hamas rockets fired from gaza have brought fear and running for cover but have killed just one israeli citizen. president obama has asked for restraint from israel and hopes that soon fighting will end and the parties will return to an u.s.-brokered peace process. >> we are hopeful that israel will continue to approach this process in a way that minimizes civilian casualties, and that all of us are working hard to return to the cease-fire that was reached in november of 2012. secretary of kerry is working to secretary egypt's initiative to pursue that outcome. i told prime minister netanyahu

that we'll follow with negotiations. >> reporter: the shoot down of the malaysian air liner that left 300 dead. that led to an coordinated investigation and recovery effort at the crash site. he said its time to stick to the facts. >> evidence indicates that the plane was shot down by surface to air missile launched from an area controlled by russian-backed separatists. inside of ukraine. we also know that this is not the first time that a plane has not been shot down in eastern ukraine. >> reporter: the president said it's too early to know exactly who was responsible, but said what happened is not possible without sophisticated equipment and training from russia. >> if mr. putin makes a decision that we are not going to allowed heavy armaments and the flow of

fighters into ukraine across the ukrainian russian border, then it will stop. >> since russia and ex-crimea the united states and europe have been pressuring russian president vladimir putin with targeted sanctions. president obama called the downed jetliner a wake-up call to action for europe and the world. >> it's not going to be localized. it's not going to be contained. what we've seen here is just in one country alone are great allies the dutch, 150 or more of their citizens being killed. >> reporter: just this week president obama issued more sanctions targeting russian banks and energy and defense firms. >> i spoke with president putin yesterday in the wake of additional sanctions that we have imposed. he said he wasn't happy with them. i told him that we have been very clear from the outset that

we want russia to take the path that would result in peace in ukraine, but so far at least russia has failed to take that path. >> conflicts in ukraine and the middle east and in iraq are major and ongoing challenges to president obama. the sanctions regime coul has had little impact, and it's increasingly difficult hour by hour. so what is the president to do? inter convenient more fervently? build coalitions or hold the course? >> so what are the options? the president said he wants all the facts before making a judgment, still he sees the hand of putin in it. as for the protracted war between israel and hamas, the president is urging a cease-fire and a return to negotiations

while neither side is letting up. it's all for a tough week on his foreign policy portfolio. with us, mark yay could be son, senior adviser to the truman national project. in nashville, tennessee, thomas schwartz, professor of history, and here in washington, tom roguen, a columnist for the telegraph review. the president has laid what is happening in ukraine at the hand of vladimir putin. is the president doing enough. >> i think the president is doing what needs to be done by that i think there will be culpability by the russians. it's so important to get international team in, and as i understand it you will have ntsb reps, and fbi on their way to kiev. whether or not they can get in to the crash, that's another

story. what the president needs to be prepared to do, however, is press on the europeans to get a little bit tougher. you don't want to create a situation where we are arming the ukraines. the russians are arming the separatists that will make it worse and tragic incidents like we saw yesterday will happen again. >> the president said this is a wake-up call to europe, a very sad wake-up call, but a wake-up call nonetheless. >> there has been an absence for too long of american leadership. the role of russian energy and finance in europe is a big thing, in london as well. what is going to have to happen is that the president is--i think he should take a trip to europe, actually, and he has to embarrass the europeans, the germans especially, to take

tougher actions. this is not about ukraine. this is about the russian attempt to create a sphere of domination in the region. >> give us some context for this. the president is talking about making the phone calls, reaching out to other world leaders. as far as we know so far there was one u.s. citizen on board this plane that was shot down, and yet all eyes are on what the president of the united states has to say. >> well, one has to understand that during the cold war the united states really led the western alliance. the european has the same degree of caution that they show now, but it was the president of the united states who frequently had to push them to take tougher actions against the soviet union, against the eastern block and provide this coordination, sometimes the financing, and clearly the leadership. that i think is still a role that the president can play. i think this president wants to do it more with allies, you about they have to recognize historically the context has often been that the united

states has to lead, which is not really a central unified actor. >> there have been criticisms about sanctions and whether they have gone far enough, and congress has called on the white house to push harder. what is the role of congress in the mix peer? that really can be--that's restricted to his role as commander in chief. his ability to really get on the bully pulpit, and to be the world leader. but congress has not been very helpful in allowing the president to really achieve some of his foreign policy objectives. first there is a great deal of disagreement over what role the united states needs to play in the world. not just between the president and congress, but within congress and the republican party itself. we have isolationist tendencies on the left and on the right.

and we have a concern that we need to do more at home. i think it's this latter piece, this concern that we need to do more. it's really the driving factor within congress and frankly amongst most of the american people as well. >> i think that is true. you certainly see the growth of rand paul and the republican party, and the influence that he has in terms of the new libertarian politics. the difficulty is that i think the president now in the aftermath of this getting the europeans on board they have to call for very tough decisions and quite frankly from my perspective what we should be looking at are walk outs of the russians on the western man western banking system. >> the rand paul narrative now becomes a little easier to play

to. >> how has the roll of congress affected presidents in the past in moments like this, and take us to the present. >> this is unusual. i think in moments of crisis the congress is not prepared to challenge the president. in this sense crisis works towards the president's favor, and this type of crisis particularly as one thinks in past circumstances like the downing of the korean airliner in 1983 or other circumstance where is there is a shock to the system. something like this is a shock to the american public. the president has much more capacity to lead than he's showing. there is much more opportunity in moments of crisis for the president to stake out an agenda and have congress follow. >> where do you see the lack right now? what would you do giftly? >> i think the president for example could order up or at least make it clear that the united states insist, not simply putting it in terms of if president putin makes a

decision, but the united states insists on an open investigation. the united states insist that the russians provide or at least not contaminate the investigation or play politics with the investigation. i think he could be stronger in rhetoric about the nature of this catastrophe, and that it is a product of the russian policy in eastern ukraine. >> we'll take a short break and come back and continue our conversation more on ukraine and the palestinian conflict as we discuss the challenges facing president obama in american foreign policy.

>> welcome back to inside story. i'm libby casey. president obama said we live in a complex world and at a challenging time. he said those challenges don't lend themselves to quick and easy solutions, but all of them require american leadership. then on thursday two of those challenges flared when israel began a ground invasion of gaza. we talk about american leadership and influence in the world. tom roguen, we heard a few moments ago from the professor that the presidents is not using strong enough language to make demands. but is there a tank in going too far in making big demands, and then if they're not met having

to walk things back. >> i think there is always a political risk. i would agree that the situation that we have at the moment with the palpable loss of leadership. i think the president does have to roll the dice in significant ways. what we've seen whether it's in ukraine or syria, is this brooding notion that american power has declined and america can't be relied upon is to some degree, and we can debate about that degree, but is fostering these doubts and clearly vladimir putin is not particularly concerned about the threats thus far. >> reflect on that tone. >> the one thing i would agree with is perception. the president having taken some very good actions, strong actions in the middle east and europe, i think there is a perception problem and belief, the impact of leadership abroad is not as great as it was.

case in point. secretary kerry has gone several times to the middle east, created some progress and created areas where you could see potential agreement, but now israel has responded to the rocket attacks with first aerial strikes and now ground invasion in gaza. you have a very tenuous situation in afghanistan. and the situation in iraq that i'm not sure that the president or secretary kerry can do much about. >> thomas, what cues are you watching as they talk about the middle east. secretary kerry is not there, and the white house said he's ready to go back, but he's not part of the equation right now. >> what is interesting in the middle east. egypt, of course, did try to broker a cease-fire so there are things going on in the middle east in particular among the different alliances between some of the arab states and israel that are different than one

might have seen in the past. that strikes me as particularly interesting and different from the past. >> tom roguen how does the white house react at this moment? if egypt is being watched, qatar, turkey, countries that could have influence in what is happening in the israeli-palestinian conflict, does the u.s. need to get involved out front or behind the scenes where it is stronger. >> i think the white house does. the way they need to do that is to rely upon and walk through it. i think egypt with al sisi plays that role, either the relationship between the egyptian army and hamas is not good. but the united states needs egypt. hamas needs egypt and to some degree the israelis need egypt. there is a relationship that needs to be pushed. my concern is unless you see hamas dropping some of its demands before we need a number

of factors before we agree to a cease-fire, you see netanyahu's patience has evaporated. >> i think that's exactly right. that goes to something that we discussed earlier. you can't take these situations in a have a couple. the president is right, the challenges we face in the world have to be dealt with with a set of partners not just one nation. the role of egypt, egypt will have turkey, qatar, etc. that's a very good example. at the same time you look at what is happening in the ukraine, and it's actually a signal to our european allies that we have to focus on the issues in europe and can't help the united states with all of these kind of little things going on in the middle east as well. so you don't get--you have unintended consequences of all these issues, and it makes for a very complex kaleidoscope of relationships that the president has to manage. >> biggest challenge for president obama right now? >> the biggest challenge is regaining the sense that he

really is a forceful leader in international politics. i think that question of perception in a sense has really plagued him since the syrianbackdown when he drew a red line, and then decided not to enforce it over the chemical weapons and tried to do a different solution there. i think that has still plagued him. i think he needs to reassert him on the world stage. >> you talked about how congress was responding immediately as the president was announcing what his game plan was. >> i think its pivotal in two ways. first, i agree with thomas. there is a question out there now over whether the unite president of the united states draws red lights, and whether he'll commit to action. there were good reasons for him to take the action that he did, and it has give him advantages

in terms of being seen as someone who can bring people aroun around the diplomatic table. i think it is pivotal. i think it will continue to create problems with regards to the executive branch and congress with regards to the use of force. >> do you look short term or long term if you're in the oval office and you're juggling what is happening with ukraine, the middle east, and throw in iraq. >> the problem is in this day and age long term is two to three weeks. if i told you what i believe the president's number one challenge is getting the president and more importantly his staff to start thinking about the long term, to start looking 6, 12, 24 month, five years out and look at the world and what we need to do to get there.

>> welcome back to "inside

story." i'm libby casey. president obama and presidents before him have often called the united states the full dispensable nation. even if that's true, does it always have the power to change world events? we discuss the challenges of american foreign policy. mark jacobson, senior adviser to the truman national project. in tennessee, thomas schwartz, professor of history at vanderbilt university. and in washington, tom roguen, columnist for the natural review and the telegraph. professor schwartz president obama only has a couple of more years in office. what's his goal in terms of legacy issues? peace brokered in the middle east. freedom in iran. what is he trying to achieve. >> i think he has focused on domestic affairs as his legacy. and you're right.

he does need a foreign affairs legacy and the middle east and peace may be the one he's looking for. although his policy is pivotin pivoting towards asia. all of this will require him to reassert a stronger american role in the world and matches take more action in dealing with both of these crisis. >> professor schwartz, what is that stronger role look like? does that mean that being at the tip of this sphere? does that exclude coalition building and working with other nations side by side? >> not at all. most of our successes in the cold wear came from coalitions. in dealing with the ukraine, dealing with chancellor merkel, for example, that's an important relationship. and we damaged our relationship in germany with scandals, so in

that sense the president has to pay attention to these alliances and recognize the importance of that in creating his legacy. >> tom roguen, the advantages of going it alone being the leader versus trying to building coalitions and doing things as a group. >> if you look at middle east, the willful of paranoi pair know--the level of paranoia, the problem going back to that red line dynamic, where america was seen not to act in that singular incident, the impact of that with israel, the different states interact with each other. the political sectarian has now come to the fore . to some degree all of that takes place in the absence of american power. now there are other issues, but the united states has to be understood as involved in the world and clear. i would say that press conference we saw earlier today there were too many legalisms.

there were too many legalisms, and too much hedging rhetoric. you need to be firm. you need to see in that one limited incident the bush approach. >> no bush approach. >> was it a cool operator. >> before you can understand where the president wants to go, you have to understand where he began. he said i'm going to end the war in iraq and take a different approach to the war in afghanistan and the troops will come home from there. you had lib y and a little bit of stability so you could start to refocus on asia, and i think all that's fallen apart not due to any action of the president but just the way the world works. now you have a president who wants to keep an eye on afghanistan, make sure iraq does not fall apart, but at the same time has to deal with syria, africa, the sudan, mali, and

with ukraine, and i think this is a challenge. how does he keep his eyes on those goals with one crisis after another coming his way? >> tom schwartz, in a very gray world does the shooting down of this passengers jet make things more black and white when it comes to ukraine? >> i think it does. i think it demonstrates the nature of putt no one ukraine, giving weapons to people who would shoot down a passenger plane or be careless enough to shoot down a passenger plane, i think the president needs to answer that with clarity. i don't think bush rhetoric, but a stronger moral clarity would help. >> 20 seconds, mark jacobson, are we going to be able to see that in this black and white moment? >> i think we'll see the european come on board. i think we'll see enough pressure put on putin so he reduces his support for the insurgents in the ukraine.

i think the malaysian air disaster will the catalyst. >> that brings us to the end of our show. thank you so much to our guests. thank you for being with us. this is "inside story." the program may be over, but the conversation continues. you can log on to our facebook page or send us your thoughts by twitter. our handle is @aj inside story a.m. you can reach me directly @libby casey. in washington, i'm libby casey. >> coming up at 6:00 p.m. on al jazeera america.

the malaysian airlines 317 disaster unfolds: even as president obama issues stark evidence on the source of the attack. grieving families in europe and asia come to grips with their losses. meanwhile the israeli intensive digs deep into gaza and could grow larger in the days ahead. those stories and more coming up at 6:00. gunk guilty ple to human experience. >> his brother and his sister torn apart when their afghan father allows a wealthier family to adopt the young girl. >> the idea for the book really came about from a story about the very painful and difficult acts of sacrifice.