or deneris but to be me, that's pretty freaky. that's something i could never have anticipated and i still don't know what to think of it. >> congratulations on all of your success. thank you so much for being on "talk to al jazeera." we appreciate it? >> my pleasure. thank you. hi, i am richelle carey. coming up at the top of the up at the top of the for the first time since taking office, president obama will be delivering his state of the union to a congress completely controlled by his opposition. hello everybody i'm david schuster in for antonio mora. welcome to a special edition of "consider this." domestic and international issues that will dominate the president's addresses and one of the most important events on the washington d.c political calendar. all that and much more straight ahead.

>> president obama is getting ready to deliver his state of the union address. >> he seems to be addressed to pursue the policies he cares about. >> i'm still around because i've got some work to do. >> the president is going to be announcing. >> proposals to cut tax to the middle class. >> the tax to the super-wealthy. >> the battle of the middle class has begun. >> not going to make people who are struggling more successful. >> on the edge about terror. >> on edge about terror all across europe. >> sleeper cells could be at rest in the united states. >> we have to be vigilant and relentless. >> for black people in america the sense that we are in a post racial society is totally false. >> because he was african american he was going to bridge that gap and that's not so easy

to do. >> as president obama prepares to deliver his state of the union address tuesday night tens of millions of americans are expected to tune in to see where the president stands and what challenges he think congress needs to address in 2015. with the challenges of islamic state and the domestic issues from paris domestic issues, are taking center stage. the economy as the president has shown,ing has made progress and he's confident it will improve. >> last year was the best growth year since the 1990s. the unemployment rate has dropped to 5.6%. we have seen manufacturing come back. we have cut our deficits, gas prices have dropped and so we are well positioned for future. >> joining us is al jazeera political correspondent michael

shore and third way think tank al jazeera contributor both of us are coming from washington d.c. michael shore the state of the union address $320 billion of new tax revenue from raising capital gains taxes and 175 billion of tax credits for middle class companies for childcare, retirement savings and more. is this possible with a republican controlled congress? >> it's not possible at all. there is no way this will pass the congress. but now that the congress is in republican hands after the disastrous mid terms for the president he still has the presidency so he can still put those people on the defensive. what he's doing david is putting them in a position to have to defend the wealthy. the republicans defending the wealthy didn't work for them last time, it's not going to

work this time. even if it doesn't pass it puts them about a position the reebility'republicans don't want to dcialtion the republicans don't want to see and the democrats don't want to have them. >> taxes are the republicans turf republicans never met a tax break they didn't like. they're going to like a lot of the tax break the president will talk about in the state of the union. what they won't like are the tax increases. they're going to insist it be taken care of by cutting spending. the president is laying down a marker in this speech. he says this is where i stand this is where my party stands, tax breaks paid by tax increases on the very, very wealthy. that's marker. >> republicans can say okay great we love the tax breaks for middle class but instead of taxing the wealthy to pay for it

we want to cut back on benefits for, say, social security. >> let them try that one. that is the most popular entitlement there is. if they say that the president is going to say go ahead make my day. >> but michael is it possible that the president will have as they call in washington, pay-force that are not quite what the -- pay-fors, tax code on the wealthy? >> that is possible, the president has said he would be open for negotiation, that would be the place woe start. but the republicans michigan mcconnell, willing to sit down with him? are there causes of cause of action caucuses that will do it? . >> you have bigger problems in the senate 174 people running for president in 2016 so they're

going to have their own agendas there david. it is going to be difficult to wrangle those. the president will still be in a position of power but the democrats don't want him to do that though. >> the poll of monmouth university asked in the recent economic upturn, whether ttys dow, 8% said yes they felt they had been impacted a great deal, 30% some, not at all 29%, in other words 61% of americans say the economic upturn is passing them by, that almost correlates bill schneider with the economy being stagnant. is there anything the president is pushing forward that would change that? >> well, it's going to give money in the form of tax cuts to the middle class. left wing cuts that would expand the size of government.

this is not a big government spending program. this is entirely done through tax system. with the exception of the community college which has to be paid for in partnership with the states. but mostly it's a way of using the tax system to give benefits directly to wage earners. the biggest problem in the country right now is wage stagnation. middle class people and workers have not seen a rise in their wages or standard of living for 14 years. even though economic growth is increasing in this country. that is a big paradox and both the democrats and the republicans are recognizing that. >> and michael shore ask it then the obligation of president obama to draw that broader theme that no matter how he does it, he needs to make the americans convinced that no matter how he does it he gets it on middle class economy? >> we are writing the headlines in a way but it's going to be

about the middle class. it's the economy and the middle class, that's what the president is going to focus on and going to what bill just said this is about tax reform. you saw tax reform come out in november when the republicans won the mid terms. tom conton in arkansas, now president has to change the message. if this poll is accurate and you have that big a number makes me think it's unbelievably accurate because it's overwhelming to a degree. and i think that then they're going to look at these numbers and they're going to say hey our messaging isn't working. tomorrow night at the state of the union this is the chance to start changing that message. i have to think they're looking at the al jazeera-monmouth university poll as they say that. >> across all income groups economic issues are the top concerns of american families over terrorism immigration

crime, anything else, even college tuition concerns were greater than terrorism. bill schneider are you surprised? >> there hasn't been a terrorist attack directly on the united states. americans are frightened by what happened in france but they don't feel as directly threatened by terrorism than they do by the stagnant economy. that's in their face every single day. you mentioned headlines before. the washington post headline on sunday, budget proposal to target wealthy. the headline on the new york times the very same day obama seeks to reduce taxes on the middle class. that's a very mixed message there and both headlines are correct. >> another part of the memorandum message, al jazeera poll 47% of the respondents felt the government was hurting. 33% of democrats felt the government actions had hurt their economic concerns. what sort of burden does that place on president obama for

tomorrow night's speech? >> listen, this is a speech given to the seat of government to everybody in charge of government. this is a wakeup call to all of them. of course 47% is a number the president would like to ballyhoo when he talks of mitt romney and his failed campaign. what you're talking about here is a president who is addressing a congress and neither of them have great approval ratings but the congress's approval rating is worse. and the people in his own party think the government is standing in the way of progress. the president has a chance to open the door and maybe talk about frog that's being made but he also has an obligation to make people feel whoit clearly from this -- who clearly are not feeling it. >> bill schneider how should the president deal with health care in the state of the union? >> let's move on. that's message on health care, it's done, it's law it's

working, let's move on. he doesn't want to continue litigating that issue. but the republicans do. >> is there an opportunity oremind the country that the republicans have now something like 50 times tried to vote to change obamacare. >> he will be pointing to where his wife is sitting and one of the 22 people she's invited to the state of the union got covered for a brain tumor. that is the ef efficacy of the affordable care act. what the president can do with the people in the gallery you can see exactly where that speech going to go tomorrow. let republicans hear that story. >> another big issue in the president's speech is give free college tuition to community colleges. what are the politics behind there? michael you start. >> you said it earlier david a

lot of people say that education, cost of education is even above terrorism. this is another example.maybe the white house is starting to listen. the president is untethered by playing politics, he can leaft alleviate those pains on the middle clasp. >> that is one of the key factors behind wage stagnation. educational gains have been going faster in other countries than in the united states. american workers are fawlings behind because to get a knowledge oriented job in the american economy you have to get a college degree. the president has to do everything he can to make american workers more globally competitive. that's one of the ways to deal with wage stagnation. >> we'll be back with miecialg shore andmichaelshore and bill schneider

but first we'll get to headlines around the world. we begin in yemen where houthi rebels and government troops battled in the capital city of sanaa. a step towards a coup. 50 people were killed and 100 injured in fierce fighting. that loud the rebels to secure state run television. an uneasy are truce announced late in the day appeared to be standing. each blamed each other for monday's conflict. next we head across the united states where thousands of americans observed martin luther king day by race marching against racial equality. deaths of black men at the hands of white police officers. with the slogan black lives

matter. best honored by following his example of nonviolent resistance. protesters in new york city, rl marched against violence. in oakland california, protesters. iranians confirm that an elite member of their revolutionary guard was killed. in the country to advise syrian bashar al-assad, others killed in the attack including the son of the commander assad's main allies in the region. domestic issues from the state of the union to the frayed

race relations and the international issues that will be part of the president's address. our social media producer, hermela aregawi tracking, the digital world. what's trending? >> you might be surprised who's moderating a live conversation with the president. join the conversation @ajconsiderthis and on our facebook page. economy. >> if this congress wants to help, work with me. >> ali velshi kicks off our special state of the union coverage at 7:00. >> we'll take an in-depth look at our nation's financial future. >> then john seigenthaler breaks down the issues. >> we need to know what's going on in our backyard. >> plus, objective analysis and live reports from across the nation and reaction from around the world. the state of the union address. special coverage begins tomorrow at 7:00 eastern. right here on al jazeera america.

>> and we're continuing our special edition preview coverage of president obama's state of the union address. we're back with al jazeera political correspondent michael shore and bill schneider. bill we'll start with you. domestic social issues will likely be a part of the president's address. today is martin luther king today and people in new york and elsewhere marched with signs that said "black lives matter."

in wake of the controversy shootings in ferguson and staten island new york, can we avoid the issue? >> i don't think so. without taking one side or the other even though he's african american he has's expressed sympathy for working class white americans who feel that they too are victims and he wants to try to calm a lot of the fears and concerns out there. the president himself said that instances of police mistreatment and brutality are nothing new. they've been going on for a long time. why have they suddenly emerged the public consciousness because of social media. people are aware of these things for the first time. >> michael shore the new al jazeera america monmouth university poll has found that

race relation ves nots have not gotten better but worse. are you surprised? >> yes i am surprised. even the conversations that were happening this week over selma the film, the film depicting the selma to montgomery march over civil rights, it was snubbed by the oscars. bill is right, social media is played a big part of this. the president isn't a civil rights leader, he's a president. he does have to take sides. a lot of liberals, a lot of democrats, expected a lot of overt attack on racism from this president simply because of the fact he was african american. i think that's what needs a lot of the disappointment, that's not what they got but they certainly have the conversation, the conversations that endured throughout his presidency. >> when you look at last year's speech immigration was a huge

part of last year's speech but none of the previews mention it. would it be wise for the president to touch on immigration reform? >> i think it would be. i think it would be wise for him to touch on it in every scope of what he's talking about including what you brought up david community colleges, i think he's going to talk about the dreamers, the positive side of immigration and why we need to do things for these americans and again if this speech is all about politics which we know most of it is, that's another place for the president to stake a claim on a segment of the electorate. to do it at the state of the union, people talk about falling numbers for the state of the union speech but still 30 million people are going to be watching and a lot more people are going to be seeing it on the news and they're going to see it clipped on youtube. it's important for him to do. >> bill i wonder if americans should be mind of the of what the president says, given there are a lot of latinos a lot ever

people to boo and his and cheer. those reaction shots could be significant right? >> yes they could be and if there's any perception that republicans are hostile to minorities, that they are not sim thetsympathetic to latino-americans, that could be damaging. look at california when they passed the law deny public services to illegal immigrants in that state the immigrant population rallied and they voted. they're worried that that could happen to the entire country. >> michael let's talk about the state of the union address itself. the white house suggested they were going to dribble out parts of the speech itself. was it a wise strategy for white house to do it this way? >> it remains to be seen.

that's probably low risk. the people who are interested in the president's speech are not going to turn away because they say they know what he's going to be talking about where these tax cuts or these tax increases ton wealthy tax cuts on the middle class he's going to be able to talk about what dreamers are and cuba and et cetera. that has an appeal. but the headlines have started out a conversation. that conversation has taken place before the speech, it will take place after the speech. ordinarily we are accustomed to seeing it staff speech. >> bill do you agree? >> last year the audience of the state of the union as michael said about 33 million people. last year the audience for the football game, the super bowl, was 112 million! that says something about what americans are interested in. >> and i think even the college football super bowl equivalent the bowl championship playoffs

attracted more than 33 million. does state of the union amount to much anymore? >> not really, a particular phrase the president might have used in the state of the union the evil empire, it was very important whether we were going to war in iraq and president bush talked about yellow cake uranium, and implicating in the 9/11 attack, at the beginning of the monica lewinsky schedule, bill clinton spoke for 60 minutes and never mentioned her. but the audience was 60 million. >> even if people don't want to watch there's something comforting about somehow being linked to history mr. speaker the president of the united states and the president hands out copies of his address and he

shakes hands and all the choreography, there is something reassuring to the speech. >> the pageantry of the speech, there is a lot of pageantry. woodrow wilson's speech was delivered on paper. but now you sit down and you watch state of the union bingo depending on how many people stand up or sit down. there is a silliness and a parody of it. but the things people listen to and play off of. it starts the political dialogue, but next year there is a presidential election, there is a kickoff to go to bill's super bowl reference. this is a kickoff to the presidential election. >> bill and michael we appreciate it.

white house has something creative to go online. hermella has more. >> question-and-answer live broadcast with the president on thursday. 19-year-old do it yourself expert 32-year-old hank green and 52-year-old grozel green is using the hashtag people ask obama. 13 million subscribers. >> my subscribers want to know about education. >> the lack of jobs for college graduates. >> racial profiling that's a good one. >> net neutrality. >> unemployment. >> the president began answering questions live on the internet in 2010. but unconventional methods to communicate directly with the public. on 2012 he slow-jammed the news

live with jimmy fallon. >> now is not the time to make school more expensive for our young is people. [cheering and applause] >> oh yeah ♪ >> and last year he appeared on between two ferns with zack zalaphanakas. on the affordable care act. >> have you heard about the affordable care act? >> yes that's i heard about that the thaing didn't thing that didn't work. >> capitalizing on something when the spotlight will be on the president. >> all right hermella. from i.s.i.l. to iran, we'll focus on the foreign policy issues as the president gets ready for the stoifn state of the

union address. >> why why the republican rebuttal has turned into a double edged sword.

>> and welcome back to a special edition of "consider this" i'm david schuster in for antonio mora. on tuesday the president is expected to spend at least part of his speech dealing with

foreign policy. the special al jazeera-monmouth university poll found that a terrorist attack will likely occur in the united states in the last few months. the brutality of i.s.i.l. was on display over the weekend graphic images showing a group of fighters stoning a woman to death for alleged adultery. and throwing a man off the roof of a building. air strikes u.s. military is providing increased support for iraqi troops and peshmerga fighters trying to attack i.s.i.l. in the region both in iraq and syria. standing with british prime minister david cameron. >> we continue to stand with our french friends and allies but all of our partners who are dealing with this scourge.

>> but they remain adamantly owned to some of obama's biggest goals, including closing guantanamo bay and the nuclear program. the president didn't pull any purchase saying he would veto any attempt by congress to impose sanctions. >> those who are most intimately involved in this assess that it will jeopardize the possibility of resolving -- provide be a diplomatic solution to one of the most difficult and long lasting national security problems that we've faced in a very long time. and congress needs to show patience. >> joining us now to talk about all the foreign policy challenges facing us in united states ambassador kurt volker, deputy assistant secretary of state for eurasian affairs.

and thomas pickering. both of them join us from washington and thank you both for being here . first, ambassador pic pickering do you join the thought that a paris like attack is coming to the united states in the next six months? >> i don't know if anybody can know for sure, but quite wisely so, there is no perfect all-seeing eye here. we've so far i think held off attacks against the united states but one never is knows whether that's a permanent situation or not. it's seemingly clear that with the uptick in attacks inall around europe we can certainly expect to be a target. that's been clear by the people out there and against us.

>> and ambassador volker, does the policy need to change in preparation of the danger? >> i think in terms of protecting ourselves against attacks in the home land, i'm not sure we've ever legality up. and need to be as vigilant as possible approximates as ambassador pickering has said, we haven't prevented every single attack but we've done a lot and done a good job and need to keep that level of vigilance. overseas i'd like to see us take the fight to the terrorists a bit harder. i think we're doing that and i know what the president will argue in his speech tomorrow will be in very smart ways air strikes and providing arms to fighters on the ground without u.s. ground troops. that said, i think we could be ramping this up much more aggressively as we see a territory in syria and iraq that is governed by the terrorists themselves place a great vulnerability for all of us, europe and the united states.

>> i.s.i.l. video released over the weekend token token and stoning and throwing off buildings. they are horrific. >> we could provide more air support we could create a no fly zone we could make removing assad from power that would be critical to getting turkey on board. and we could be providing more assistance than we have at this point. >> and ambassador pickering is that a wise idea? >> yes, i don't disagree with any of that. i think it's important to protect our interest that we keep the pressure on. it's very clear that we have pretty dull difficulty people to deal with on both sides of the fence. i.s.i.l. and its horrendous actions are very clearly the major concern that we share now and the spread of that across the world to other areas are

important and we need to be focused on that. secondly a military set of actions is only half the battle. there has to be as well political active to end up -- activity to end up somewhere and not leave everything in pieces on the ground but clearly put together a future arrangement. it wos would be nice if prime minister abadi would be aa little more open to dealing with the sunni population in his country. dealing with both soorch sunni and abadi, to take advantage of the presence of i.s.i.l to shift the sunni as hard as that is. it's important. there is no easy vij tri victory in iraq. as kurt volker has just told us.

and it's very important as we look ahead to syria that we look at the initiatives that are now in the offing. can we help spread the ceasefire? can we help built a new government for syria? can we in the process bring on board those who have supported assad? i think a no-fly zone is an extremely important idea. it will begin to cut the supply relationship by air to assad's forces from russia and iran and they need to know that assad isn't going to win. and if they have a future for themselves in syria it has to be with a new different and obviously open syrian government. >> ambassador volker that much more muscular approach will what the republicans will be listening for. the framework of his foreign policies and his statements to

the american people that the americans are not going to get bogged down on the ground in either iraq or syria. >> you just laid that down. that is the more muscular approach that is warranted in the situation that we have. what i think president obama will argue instead is that a measured approach that bills on the relationship of the allies in the region that doesn't get troops on the ground, that limits the permanent of american involvement, that degrades i.s.i.l. over time, he's going to argue that that is a smarter approach than that done by president bush and there is a different way a third way between what president bush and president obama is doing and that's what ambassador pickering and i have just outlined. >> looks like the kouachi brothers had training in yemen the training in the arabian

peninsula, how should he explain that to the american people? >> i think you have to address it because the problem we see with i.s.i.l. that we were just talking about is part of the bigger phenomenon of the extremist islamist terrorist groups expanding their capacity and reach and affecting a much wider swath than syria and iraq alone. it's affecting affecting libya a troubling wider spread of issues as well. and the president is going to want to address it preemptively, he's going to face criticism for the detainees at guantanamo. you can say it is tone deaf for the fact that yemeni terrorists are responsible for the paris events. >> when the president talks on

the state of the union is it fair for the president to say we are safer we are better protected now against i.s.i.l. against al qaeda than we have ever been before? >> i think those points have been made clear in the early discussions we've had. i think what you have to keep in mind here is foreign policy neither the first issue in the minds of all americans although recent polls have put both terrorism and economics at the top of the list and that the president will obviously want to be measured and careful in what he puts forward in large measure because he will want to say what he can deliver. he has been criticized heavily in the past for not doing that. i think it's very important that he be straightforward careful and clear on what we can do. we can't involve ourselves in every middle eastern conflict. libya yemen are pretty far from the center of the operation and where we're going. nevertheless in yemen we have

been very active, particularly with drone strikes and trying to assist the current government with al qaeda on the one side, the shia ads on one side and on the other side, where there's a political formulation and ceasefire earnestly desired there is some signs where that is taking place today but libya is even in worse circumstances. there are no easy answer he for libya, and american ambassador has just warned, without increasing involvement and support of the libyan government in tripoli that's certainly likely to break apart and egypt, nigeria tunisia and

chad. >> ambassadors, thank you. they are staying with us. just ahead we're going over more foreign policy concerns looking at cuba and iran. up next the history of the state of the union along with interesting trivia, a look at what's changed in the last century, that's in our data dive, that's next. ve, that's next.

>> tuesday night president obama will deliver his sixth state of the union address. our data dive, grounded in u.s. constitution. article 2 section 3 on the president's responsibility say quote he shall from time to time give information on the state of the union. early on presidents used to send congress a written report, woodrow wilson was the first to show up and deliver his report in person. it was customary for the speech to be delivered in the chamber of the house and senate.

all members are asked to squeeze together. democrats and republicans normally split up along party lines but in recent years some have sat together, what they now call date night. >> mr. speaker, the president of the united states! [cheering and applause] >> there are no assigned seats for lawmakers so some of them expense hours on the center aisle. the most frequent squatters are democratic senators elliot angles and sheila jackson. justice scalia hasn't gone in a decade calling it a childish spectacle. one kept away from the capital ernesto moniz went to an undisclosed location and trailed by an air force officer carrying

what's known as the football, the briefcase containing the nation's nuclear launch codes. the first lady in the balcony takes a seat with special guests. in capitol hill parlance they are known as skutnicks after lennie skutninick who was jumped in the frozen waters to rescuing airline survivors. >> thank you and god bless the united states of america. a formal response during the obama administration the chance has been a republican curse. >> good evening and i'm bobby jindal. >> nothing has frustrated me more like false choices the

president laid out tonight. >> the water grab was the headline for florida senator marco rubio and michigan daniel soon left politics and bob mcdonald a rising star five years ago was convicted on fraud and headed to prison next month. the state of the union audience has dwindled the his first attracted over 50 million viewers, last year it was 30 million. it is the most watched.political political event of the year. up next. next.

>> and we're back with

ambassador kurt volker and ambassador thomas pickering. they are both joining us from our studios in washington. ambassador volker, there was the president pleading with congress not to pass a resolution. if the nuclear talks fail there's going to be an automatic set of new restrictions on iran. the president is saying, it's probably going to happen but don't stick a finger in the eye. >> that is his position, it's very important that he make it clear that that is his position and that's the way he views it. if a sanctions bill is passed it includes a provision for president to have a waiver authority, a national security waiver to say if negotiations are fruitful that he can waive the applications of those sanctions. it is making a play for sanctions really taking effect. what i see here is a difference of judgment between the

administration and the republicans in cock about where we -- in congress about where we are in negotiations. the negotiations have slowed down around the nuclear program that they haven't been able to continue to develop in the direction of a weaponnized program and continuing these negotiations is worthwhile and they will eventually produce results. the republicans on the other hand say no, this interim agreement where we've got thus far has actually benefited the iranians and has taken us further away from getting a full brick on the program and the longer this drags out the closer we will get and that's why we need new sanctions and if you don't do this you run the risk that a country like israel will take things into its own hands than if we do through sanction he. i think we'll see this play out as we go through the spring and early summer. >> and is the administration correct that this has put a

freeze on the nuclear activities? >> well, it has put a freeze on some things but the iranians have been able to continue to operate centrifuges. they have been able to continue to build the heavy water nuclear facility just without the reactor. they have been able to continue on their missile delivery systems. i'm in the camp to see that iran continues to develop their programs only the things halted by the interim agreement everything else goes forward. >> ambassador, what about stay out of this let's wait another three months and see where the negotiations go? >> nothing wrong with that. a preemptive situation what republicans in congress are flirting with seems to me to be a totally off base idea and one that really ought to be held back on. it is very clear that the iranians understand this. the iranians have made it clear that they would consider this a violation of the agreement. the agreement says any new

sanctions would certainly undermine the agreement and would not be in keeping with the u.s. commitment made back in november of 2013. i also think that the present agreement is far better than the situation we had. no more enriched material being produced nothing above 5%, complete destruction or removal of a 20% stockpile of material which we were concerned about. no more centrifuges put in operation. nothing happening on the reactor to make the plutonium the heavy water plant is without the reactor of no purpose at all and it's important to keep that particular thing in mind. missiles were never considered in the agreement. they're important but they have no value without war heads and certainly nuclear war heads is what the agreement is designed to stop. so i think agreement is way way out in front in terms of being favorable to our interests and favorable to where we want to go. that having been said a comprehensive agreement should

be better and we need to give it ever opportunity of working. >> european sanctions are up pe at the end of march. the ambassador seems to want to keep the negotiations going. it seems like the sanctions are crippling the russian economy along with lower oil prices and vladimir putin is paying a price for his aggression in the ukraine. >> failure on the part of putin over the years to diversify the russian economy secondly the sanctions which have added spin to that ball if i can put it that way anden thirdly the oil prices fall which is not something we engineered but is coming along and has added to iran and to russia in the efforts to try to bring them along. i think all of this is fine but i think we need to give putin the kind of door we would like to see him walk through and that might involve a couple of things here. one rebuilding the ukrainian

economy, at the root cause of a lot of the issues. the imf the european union the united states should invite mr. putin to make his contribution. he wanted to buy out the ukraine before, now is his chance to play a constructive role. secondly we should think of ukraine as a bridge country. a country which is not going to be part of the european union or the russian economic zone but which can operate economically and politically as a bridge between the two. in my own view it is also important to stop the fighting. to treat all ukrainians with a common basis to in fact eschew on both sides the hard-right views that are prevalent in parts of ukraine ton one hand and the separatist views which are part of eastern ukraine aided and abetted by the russians, these are issues, to use constructively the pressures

on putin not just the pressures to rached up ratchet up to go nowhere. >> mr. volker, i would like to hear from you. >> i have some differences. i don't think we should view ukraine as a bridge country but a sovereign country. how they would like their democracy, their economy to develop what international organizations they want to be a part of. the second thing is that while everything ambassador pickering is right about the pressures on the russian economy that doesn't mean that vladimir putin is going to change his judgment about what he wants to do in ukraine because of that. i think he actually is behaving in a very aggressive way. there wouldn't be the fighting in eastern ukraine without russian intervention and even with the uptick in violence we saw in the last week he wants to continue to pursue this, it generates for him a russian great power narrative that is

extremely useful to him in justifying his reign at home, especially when the economy is in bad shape. so i think we've got some very assertive aggressive russian policy ahead of us still and we better gird ourselves for that. >> president obama changed decades of u.s. policy regarding cuba. ambassador pickering is there anything for president to say to republicans in congress on this? he has already lifted the key parts of the embargo. but hasn't the train already left the station when it comes to normalization of relations with cuba? >> to some extent it has but the president would be mistaken in ignoring congress in anything he does. the congress has a powerful role. it's now in one party. someone made the remark of all two-term presidents very few if any have not had in their last two years a congress dominated

by the opposing party. a very interesting phenomenon in american politics but there is an opportunity to get along here rather than necessarily snipe at each other. peck away, if we could put it this way at each other's bodies and try bring the country to a more disastrous set of circumstances. real opportunities on both sides to make things work and cuba is that opportunity. after 50-plus years of getting nowhere with the embar go, there is now an opportunity to see if we can get somewhere building our influence in cuba in constructive ways. and the assistant secretary of state is going down there to work out first the diplomatic arrangements but i hope she also works on the question of loose 96loosening up the pressures instituted on the cuban people by the castro regime.

castro says he's going to leave in a few years. changes to more american tourists to more cubans domg this country could all be easy middle steps here. >> ambassador volker one of the opportunities the president has articulated in the past, is to close the guantanamo bay prison. it doesn't seem like that's going to happen so is it wise for president to continue dangling the possibility that oh well maybe we will get rid of all the prisoners ever gitmo? >> it is politically useful for him to make good on his campaign, to say he wants to close this and indeed with the release of five more prisoners last week, we are seeing efforts to empty it out so we'll see how far he can take this. it is certainly something he wants to do. back ton diplomatic relations with cuba, i think ambassador pickering made a good point. you do eventually need

legislation and it's not just republicans in this case but it's democrats like senator menendez who were blind sided in opening relations are going to be much more difficult to work with now when it comes to critical issues about lifting sanctions. should we or shouldn't we, it is much harder to address that issue given the way the situation has played out. >> ambassadors thank you for joining us. we appreciate it. >> you're welcome. >> that's all for now. the conversation continues on @ajconsiderthis. and you can meet me @davidshuster. we'll see you next time. >> surrounded by the concrete and steel of downtown detroit, a two block square of dirt is

sprouting tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, broccoli, leaks and more. not just crops ready for the dinner table, but hundreds of thousands of seedlings to be shipped to plots around the city. some of that produce is served at one of the city's biggest businesses, the mgm grand casino and hotel, which donated the land and the greenhouse just across the street. >> we have hundreds of acres, if not thousands of acres available and i think this is maybe a stepping stone for the rest of the community to get involved. >> ashley atkinson helps run "keep growing detroit", whose ambitious mission is to make their town achieve what it calls "food sovereignty". >> and actually many studies have been done, including one by michigan state university, that found that only on a couple of thousand acres detroiters could be producing as much as 76% of the vegetables that we currently consume and 41% of the crops we currently consume, using the same methods that we've been teaching. >> i am so excited because i've been wanting me some okra for the longest time.

>> in a city fighting to regain the stability it once drew from the downsized auto industry, the urban farm movement here offers another common cause by rallying together to grow more food from its abundant soil. >> hi everyone this is al jazeera america. i'm john siegenthaler. rich versus poor. 80 billionaires are worth the same amount of money as 3.5 billion people on the planet. state of the union. the focus on the economy. >> america's college promise will make two years of community college free. >> and the president sets his agenda for his final two years. under attack. the new violence threatening the government of yemen and the fight against al qaeda there.