>> the pentagon says there is still room for diplomacy, despite troops on ukraine's border. this is al jazeera live. west africa's main regional block suspends burkina faso after the coup but stops short of sanctions. argentina and the imf reach a

landmark deal on restructuring debt. a bridge collapses in pittsburgh hours before a visit by the u.s. president to highlight his project to strengthen infrastructure. joe biden says he will be moving a straw -- a small number of troops to eastern europe. the pentagon has placed around 8500 military personnel on standby. the u.s. military's top two officials say a full-scale invasion would be horrific, but there is still time to avoid war. >> conflict is not inevitable. there is still time and space for publicity. >> given the types of forces,

all of it packaged together, if that was unleashed on ukraine, it would be significant and would result in significant casualties. you can imagine what that might look like in dense urban areas, along roads. it is not necessary. we think a diplomatic outcome is the way to go. >> president biden says he will be deploying a small number of troops to eastern europe and nato countries in what he calls the near term. >> it seems the biden administration every day is taking another slight step to show how serious they think this is. we believe this is probably

coming with -- joe biden traveled to pennsylvania today. we started to see reports from reporters traveling with him that in the near term, he will be moving those terms. we do not know if it is that 8500 you mentioned. units in europe have been notified. they would send them to nato countries. the president has said he has no intention of sending u.s. troops into ukraine. there are about 200 members of the florida national guard that go in and have for years to train ukrainian forces. there is a plan to get them out and embassy officials if it comes to an invasion. in the last couple of weeks, when you hear from pentagon officials, and they are looking

at satellite evidence, the consensus is that russia did not have troops to take over the entire country of ukraine, but we heard from the secretary of defense and chairman of the joint chiefs of staff that they believe now with the artillery, the troops on the border and several different borders that they do have enough forces that they could take the country. american officials will tell you the ukrainian military is better than when russia took crimea, but not a match for the russian villa terry. the biden administration is trying to put the focus on unifying allies. they have called for a un security council meeting on monday. the president seems to be sending the message that he does not think the u.s. military

needs to be involved, but that will change peyton's -- putin's calculus, but a severe economic hit, they are banking that might be enough. >> the current president has warned against panic over a possible russian invasion. zelensky says anxiety is weighing heavily on the ukraine economy and sees no interchange on the ground compared to last year. >> we are grateful to the u.s. for their support, but i know the details. we understand the risks. the president should know the situation from the, not the intermediaries. we do not see a bigger escalation. the trip numbers have gone up, but i was talking about the same thing in 2021. there was a big buildup, we were

supported by the u.s., i do not think the situation is more intense. there was no such coverage of ukraine at that time. >> more from eastern ukraine. >> zelensky has been speaking to the media in kyiv. it seems that he is trying to stamp his authority on this crisis, mentioning that ukraine would not accept any kind of agreement made solely between the u.s. and russia. he blamed the media for inflating the situation. he said the crisis was no worse than in 2014, a time when he was not president. that was a time when ukraine lost crimea to russian control, indeed lost control of these

areas in eastern ukraine. it seems as if the ukrainian president is trying to stamp his authority on this crisis. zelensky is suffering some of the worst popularity ratings since he became president. here is a man that promised to return control of crimea and this area of don bass to the ukraine. >> despite international affairs, russia's foreign minister says his country does not want war. he is expected to meet antony blinken again. >> there will not be a war. we do not want a war, but we will not let our interests the trampled on. the u.s. has rejected all the russian security proposals for the last 2-3 years.

now they are borrowing from region russian initiatives. >> let us bring in a professor at the center for strategic studies. lloyd austin says there is still room for diplomacy, but the threat of war is still there? do you think diplomacy is working? >> it works until it does not. every day that we do not have russians moving across the border is a day that diplomacy has worked. this has been going on about three weeks. russians have been messing troops since november. it looks as though they have a window until march when you start to get mud that they could take action. it is working more than it is

not. >> with vladimir putin amassing troops and military hardware, do you think the west is finally taking his security concerns seriously regarding nato's expansion. >> the issue is not nato's eastward expansion. ukraine was not ready for nato membership. what this is about is vladimir putin's fear of revolution. he had a pro russia that was overthrown. it is going to be a rough enter in russia. ain't inflation -- inflation is at 18%, but russians when they go to war, they can suffer. it looks like he is trying to

call of the former soviet union's influence to distract his population and live to fight another winter. >> what about ukraine itself? this is a boxing match. kyiv does not really have any influence. >> they do have influence. people are still talking about historic parallels with 1938. nato takes decision by consensus. if the ukraine is sold down the river without their interests taking part, lithuania, latvia, estonia, also former members of the soviet union who have significant russian ethnic groups that vladimir putin has messed with in the past, they will hold up everything in nato.

these reinforcements are extracting countries that are worried about that. >> how much do you think this conflict has revitalized nato? the alliance appears ready to demonstrate its resolve. >> you nailed it. if lender peyton's -- vladimir putin's concern about nato, the last thing he could have done was the quiet. russian planes kept over flying there airspace. now, there is a battle move -- battle group moving into the baltic countries. sweden and finland are talking about protocols to join nato if attacked. he is creating what he wants. if he had just focused on economic development, chances

are good that nato would slide back into what donald trump often claimed it was -- a talking shop where allies do not take security commitments seriously. >> the west african law ecowas has the suspended burkina faso following a coup but stopped short of imposing sanctions. >> a man is getting ready to fight burkina faso's isil affiliate. he has returned to the capital to gather weapons and equipment. he says that muslims in the north are being nurtured, burkina faso's security forces are too scared to deal with a threat. >> we are frustrated. they attack us with rockets but

the ammo never comes to help us while the military is busy taking over the capital instead of protecting us. >> damiba is equipping civilians to fight. villagers are sump -- supplied with basic weapons and ammunitions. al qaeda and isl affiliate groups are shifting. leaving a large swaths of land in the hands of armed groups. neighborhoods already crushed by poverty are taking those displaced by the fighting. no access to schools or medical facilities. no help from the government or age agencies. >> if they are displaced, they

share this well, but to access this water, they have to pay. there is a sense for many that the state has abandoned them and hope that perhaps their circumstances will change with new readership in charge of the country. the junta leader be the drum of war, appearing more a commander of chief then head of state. during an emergency meeting of ecowas, heads of state suspended burkina faso. growing insecurity in the sight hell. for a member of parliament, peace will come not with her weapons, but through dialogue. >> we know who are taking us. they are local people influenced by outsiders.

we need dialogue. alleviating poverty is key. >> for him, the people of the sahel have been forgotten. >> southern africa braces for more extreme weather after tropical storm anna leaves dozens of dead. references to lockdown street d from the report on the so-called party gate scandal. stay with us. >> let us have it look at the weather in north america. this weekend, that nor'easter developing on the eastern coast of the u.s., expected to move quickly to canada by sunday.

ahead of that, a cold front through the southeast states knocking temperatures down, but sunday, warms it will be coming back into places like atlanta. bitterly cold for the northwest. winter storm bringing snow and rain into british colombia and washington state, but significant winter weather is going to be affecting the east coast of the u.s.. boston could see up to 30 centimeters of snow. we could also see some coastal flooding as that system works its way further north, bringing heavy snow to maine and england. sunday, it will be eastern areas of canada that see those conditions.

>> in a series of documentaries, correspondents explore stories that have marked their lives and careers. gabriella covered two rain forest activists brutally killed. returning to the amazon, gabriella learns how to campaign for sustainable development. al jazeera correspondence. ♪ >> our top stories.

joe biden says he will be moving troops to eastern europe in what he is calling the near term. over a thousand on standby. ukraine's president has warned against panic over a possible russian invasion. zelensky sense of anxiety is weighing heavily on the ukrainian economy. ecowas has suspended burkina faso after the military takeover on monday but stopped short of imposing further sections. after a year of talks, argentina has reached a deal with the imf to restructure more than $40 billion of debt. pressure on the government to suspend repayments.

what more can you tell us about this new deal? >> for the government, it is a relief. it gives it some space to breathe. the presidents, this whole issue has been looming over him since he took office. this was a loan that his predecessor took from the imf, the greatest in imf history. argentina had no way of paying this back. not only was it facing recession , but eight-month after the president took office, the pandemic started. there was no way he could negotiate a deal with the imf.

will this deal change much? not really. the imf is not asking for major changes like privatizing state- owned companies or making major spending cuts, as it might have in other times. argentina is still facing the same problems that it had. it has high inflation and the debt will continue. all he did is delay the payment. dareen: thank you. russia recorded almost a million excess deaths between the start of the pandemic and the end of 2021. the official number past some hundred thousand on friday. -- 700,000

scientists concerned about subvariant ba.2. it has now been detected in 40 countries. experts say studies are ongoing, but the new sub variant appears more transmissible then omicron. dr. richard sales says the sow. it is not a major cause for concern. >> we have preliminary data that protection from the vaccine is similar. the fundamentals of what we need to do have not changed. there may be some subtle differences and may be is something about this that makes it slightly better at infecting

people and passing from person to person, but we know what we need to do to protect people. dareen: british police have asked for critical details to be withheld when an investigation into lockdown parties at the prime minister's home is released. some of the most serious accusations that boris johnson faces could be held back. >> rarely have events at number 10 faced this much scrutiny. the country is speculating on the consequences. mps have been clamoring for the full publication of the inquiry compiled by sue gray. the results of which could lead to the collapse of boris johnson's leadership, but

london's metropolitan police have put the brakes on, calling for the report to make minimal reference to events to avoid prejudicing the case. that means the suit great report will exclude details of the most serious breaches. >> the police have got something to answer for here. >> this lawyer who previously defended julian assange believes the police is not capable of a fair investigation. >> there is real question marks around the credibility of the police regarding their own officers who did not report crimes. they have a duty to bring in an independent police force. >> so what did happen at number

10? >> it is believed that 17 gatherings happened. meanwhile, london's metropolitan police have launched a separate investigation into 8 of the most serious breaches of lockdown rules. boris johnson planning his next move. politics in westminster is at a standstill, boris johnson in a perpetual state of high noon, his opponents at a continuous midnight. any momentum opponents may have gained subsides, giving johnson room to maneuver. it is unclear when the police will conclude their investigation.

the results could be serious for johnson but might be months away. speculation over parties at number 10 continues, but one potential start witness that neither sue gray nor the police can question. dareen: a bridge collapsed in pittsburgh hours before president biden what -- was scheduled to deliver a speech on aging infrastructure. >> a snow covered bridge collapses friday morning in pittsburgh. several cars and buses were on the bridge at the time. 10 people suffered minor injuries. hours later, joe biden it comes to see it firsthand, on his way to deliver a speech about crumbling infrastructure. witnesses say the collapse could have been worse. >> 15-20 minutes later, you

would have had buses with school kids and workers. >> the bridge was built nearly a half-century ago. like dozens across pittsburgh, the government rated it in port condition in 2011. three years ago, this twitter user highlighted is corroded steel beams. >> but all over america, infrastructure is in disrepair. last year, president biden signed into law a $1.2 trillion infrastructure plan to rebuild everything including railroad lines, airports, tunnels, roads, bridges. >> biden is using the collapse to champion the urgency of his

infrastructure efforts. >> there are 45,000 bridges in poor condition. we have to do something about this. >> according to the american society of civil engineers, in the u.s., 42% of bridges are over 50 years old and 46,000 are structurally deficient. the problems abundantly clear. dareen: the number of people killed by a storm in re-african countries has risen to 88th. it brought torrential rain. teams are racing to repair infrastructure and help

displaced people as another storm looms. >> days of heavy rains have drowned out these villages. on the ground, tens of thousands of people have been affected, many now homeless. >> we have had floods previously, but they have never reached here. the people living near it were the only ones affected, but not us living in hilly places. it is only this year that a flat has displaced us. >> still hard to reach remote areas. >> this flood is unprecedented. normally, bloods have areas where they normally take place, but this time, almost two thirds

of the district has been hit. >> heavy rains have hit southern africa for a week now. mozambique hit hard, caught on camera right when the rescue workers. this man had climbed up a tree. in madagascar, electricity cuts. thousands displaced. a house is flooded with water. it was flooded twice. we were flooded the other time, but we stayed there. this time, we had to leave. the mattresses are wet. our baby got sick. >> hoping to repair rokita infrastructure and help the displaced. weather reports predict more heavy rains. dareen: astronomers in australia have discovered a celestial

object they described as spooky. the phenomenon releases energy every 80 minutes. researchers say there have been similar discoveries in the past but nothing like this. it is quite close. ♪ dareen: quick check of the top stories. president biden says he will be moving a small number of troops to eastern europe in what he is calling the near term. 8500 military personnel on standby. >> conflict is not inevitable. there is still time and space for diplomacy. >> given the type of forces, if

that was unleashed on ukraine, it would be significant and would result in significant casualties. you can imagine what that might look like in dense urban areas, along arose. it would be horrific. we think a diplomatic outcome is the way to go. >> ukraine's president has warned against panic, saying anxiety in the u.s. is weighing heavily on the ukrainian economy and sees no major change compared to last year. west africa's main regional block has suspended burkina faso. ecowas -- discussions are held later on saturday.

argentina has reached a deal with the imf to restructure debt. thousands of investors are on the investor to suspend repayment. a bridge just collapsed in pittsburgh hours before joe biden was scheduled to deliver a speech on infrastructure. at least 10 were injured. the number of people killed by a storm that struck three african countries has risen to 88. those were the headlines. the news continues after the street. stay tuned. >> the 35th meeting of the african union will see hence estate discuss covid.

with climate change, per kina faso and other west african crews -- burkina faso and oth west african coups high on the agenda. special coverage on al jazeera. >> when mark zuckerberg said it is ok for politicians to live, that spells doom. i am a journalist and author. >> the message the government is sending is clear -- be silent or you are next. >> when i started seeing videos of people angry with things that were untrue, i realized i was working with something evil. i am a data scientist, but most people know me as the cambridge whistleblower. our data is being used without our consent.

>> the way social media platforms have been formulated fans the devil in your year. >> when people get killed, there are no actual consequences. >> it is like they gave everyone guns and said it is the wild west. >> i am sure a lot of people in the audience have heard bits and pieces about what is going on in the philippines, but what is the big deal? why should we care about what is happening in the philippines? >> our organization has been fighting impunity on two fronts. the first is these information operations, the manipulation on

social media. when you say a lie a million times, it becomes fact. when you do not have facts, you can create whatever narrative you want, including journalists are criminals. the second is the impunity in the drug war. our president was elected with the power of social media in may 2016. this was the beginning of the dominoes tumbling down. they are all connected now. our drug war, if you look at the numbers, our own commission on human rights says that in a little less than three years, at least 27,000 people have died. under marcos, you are talking about a death toll of a little

over 300,200. how are collapsed within six months because we did not have facts and journalists are under attack. it is not just my start up, though i could go to jail because of the cases that have been filed. they are politically motivated. i am not doing anything different than i used to do 20 years ago. >> what is different? >> tech. you are fascinating to me because you looked at the code, the data, and you've later realized it impact on society. i am waiting for silicon valley to realize that. >> do you think silicon valley, predominantly run lightweight privileged men -- white

privileged men, a large number of whom are americans, do you think that plays a role? if more people from other countries were in leadership roles in tech, do you think that would make a difference? >> i like to say if journalists were making tech decisions, it would be better. when mark zuckerberg essentially sent it is ok for politicians to lie, that spells doom. that spells the end of democracy. you cannot tell fact from fiction. before you can create a marketplace, you have two have rules. the rows we have in social media do not work. what are the values of tech? >> optimization, monetization.

>> thank you. >> one thing that lots of journalists even celebrated tech was ruled was the mantra of facebook -- move fast and break things. the hubris, not thinking that you could be breaking democracy around the world. >> even with the evidence there. >> you bring up the death toll of the current regime in the philippines. i think to myanmar. facebook was warned by journalists and the u.s. about what was happening. facebook's systems were being deliberately exploited to propagate hate messaging. it was contributing to ethnic violence.

who would've thought -- i would have thought that would be a big deal for any ceo to be told that. facebook responded, the world is complicated. we will try harder. do you think there are parallels between myanmar and what could happen in the philippines? >> it is in every country. the ethnic violence is continuing in myanmar. information operations led by the military still continuing on facebook. it guide who lead that you are in fact finding was an indonesian. facebook has an independent report. they say the same things. nothing yet is moving. that is part of the reason. what do we do? i am not completely against

facebook, although it now, i am. >> you are against bad behavior. >> i am against impunity. >> every time the facebook tries to do the right thing, arcing incentives punish them. >> i have provided a lot of information to american regulators. facebook received a fine of $5 billion from the ftc and a 100 million from the fcc. the share value went up. you can be at the helm of the company that has received the largest financial penalty in history and shareholders go, great, let us buy more stock. the worst that can happen is that much money.

what do you think henan be done -- can be done. do you think regulatory action can work if one country has this regulation and another does not? >> some states are talking about data portability. if you own your own data, you can take your data out of facebook and put it in another social media platform. >> do you think people would actually move? do you think it would create a two-tiered system where truth and privacy become luxury goods? >> that could be, but i will tell you the a of latinos given the poison -- the hate fear of filipinos given the poison injected.

until 2016, facebook was number one in alexa ranking. now it is back to number seven. we know something is wrong, but there is no other. >> i do not think data and information are morally wrong or good. i think they are neutral. i think about it like electricity. you can power a studio. we can sit comfortably in a warm environment. you can also electrocute and kill someone. when i was little, my grandmother would freak out if there was cutlery anywhere near the toaster. you could die making toast. electricity is dangerous, but would you want to live without it? what do we do about electricity to try to elevate the things that it does and minimize the bad and

we have safety standards. imagine if facebook was a building. the building has been designed deliberately to make it hard to leave. every time you open a door, there is lots of doors that go nowhere and you cannot really leave. at the front, there are terms and conditions in a book -- 20,000 words. then in door says, by the way, you agree you have read this book outside and you agree to everything that it does. we would not tolerate that. we also would not say that the onus should be on people to avoid that weird and wonky, perhaps dangerous building. we would be going, why art

buildings being designed this way? for me, when i fight so frustrating about silicon valley is that they will continue to win as long as they keep up the narrative that the onus and burden of safety in our democracy is on regular people rather than the people who designed systems. >> when i was getting attacked, they kept saying, you are a public figure. i thought, hello, i am protected by the constitution. you have taken away that protection. why is it the user's fault? >> and who gets to let you choose what is allowable and not allowable? this is the thing that i find really scary.

we have relegated our marcus lee to mark zuckerberg. -- our democracy to mark zuckerberg. >> might vested interest is in the short term. i could to jail. >> i -- it is an infrastructure. imagine if you had a pharmaceutical company regulated like a tech company you do not have to do any tiles, prove safety. you can experiment. when something goes wrong, you can say sorry. biology is complicated. or an airline going, sorry our plane crash. it is hard to make things light. sometimes ** happens. when you look at the reaction

that facebook has, the press release is like a pro forma standard, the world is complicated, we got it wrong. i question why you are allowed to experiment on societies and when real people get killed, there are no actual consequences. i feel safe mostly when i go onto a plane. i think people should feel safe online as well. >> agreed. they have gotten away with impunity so far. also because power abdicated responsibility to the young guys. >> do you think mark zuckerberg is a new publisher? >> are they not publishing, allowing it? it is like they gave everyone

again sent sent it is the wild west. i cannot believe i am saying this. >> do you think that information is a weapon? >> the weaponization of information, isn't that what is killing democracy? >> donald trump has eroded democracy. at the same time, he is putting children in cages at the border and undermining civic cohesion. i look at that and i think that destruction is happening. it is the product of information or did information. -- dis-information. information can be a weapon, but at the same time, journalists

use information. >> the largest distributor of news is facebook, youtube a close second. the designs of these platforms are optimized to manipulate, to sell us at our weakest possible moment to the person or company that will pay for an intended result. it is like these are platforms, behavioral modification systems and we are pavlov's dogs. >> perhaps let us open it up to pavlov's dogs for some questions. >> and of these challenges we are confronting right now, like epidemics, we have had a terrible one in the philippines, or coronavirus which is

significantly complicated by misinformation, do you see any hope that real-world costs will be recognized by even more authoritarian actors? >> in the philippines, i would say yes. the government has talked about how they will go after fake news about the coronavirus, but the government's own machinery is pumping out news. it is pumping out lies. it takes the attention, it refocuses attention from things going wrong. i am curious why the west because it misinformation. it is disinformation. it is meant to manipulate. these networks go bottom up the global south and connect to these nervous system but in my

country is combining russia and china. it is scary, but this is how information is weaponized for power. who can control this right now? silicon valley. >> this is to christopher. in 2013, you set up a similar company. according to buzz feed, you had told an acquaintance you wanted to build the nsa's wet dream. you also claimed that people pays more. >> that is not true. one thing i have learned is that when you go up against a company that specializes in disinformat ion, it also creates narratives about people who criticize.

i do not take your assertion as valid. it simply is not true. i did not set up that company. i do not remember and have not the any actual evidence to substantiate this comment. >> it seems to me you helped create these tools which you admitted to building. eventually, these tools work is appropriated and used two hijack collections and undermine democracy. do you understand why people would question your motives? >> of course. it is healthy to have skepticism. i understand that was involved in creating a company that ended up doing some really terrible things, not just in the u.s. but around the world.

when i joined scl, i was 23-24. i recognize i did not know enough about what i was doing. i have learned a lot. if there were regulations in place at the time when i first started that required me as a scientist to make a proper assessment of risk where that would because appliances if that did not happen, not to say that cambridge and lookout or -- cambridge analytica or others would not have existed, but it would have made people think about what they were doing. >> the political situation in the pull -- in the philippines, what advice would you give to a potential filipino whistleblower?

>> one thing. lawyers, lawyers, lawyers. lawyers have saved my life so many occasions that is all i would say. >> whistleblowers in the philippines have a horrendous track record. part of the reason we have so few and why your works is because it is the whistleblower who suffers, versus whoever they blow the whistle against. i have submitted myself to the men and women inside the judiciary who i hope will abide by the spirit of the constitution, but i am cognizant that they have families to protect, reputations, ambitions. makes our justice system

extremely followed, but i submit myself to that. >> christopher, you have recently been banned from facebook. there has been a study to show that when people deactivate their facebook accounts, they become happier. has this affected your mood? >> i am banned on facebook, also instagram. my life no longer has well curated pictures. am i happier? not really. it is hard to stay in touch with people without using the two main systems that everybody else uses. facebook did not just deactivate my account in a normal way. i got completely erased.

my photos, but my friend groups all went away. when you look at other examples in history of where the collective memory of a person is erased, you have that in the soviet union, where if you spoke out against the regime, you would be disappeared, not just physically, but your photos would go away, mentions of you would go away. it felt weird to look at 10 years of my life disappearing. they not just ban me. they deleted me. it felt weird. i am more broadly happier. i feel later because i have gone through this somewhat unscathed, but i do miss being in touch with people.

my final thought is that we have got a really serious problem. to me, it feels like the existential crisis like climate change. you not notice incremental changes in democracy until you no longer have it. but i hope that he will take that to heart. if you think that that is worrying, make your voice heard and be angry about it. >> the two biggest battles -- climate, because we will die, and you cannot fix climate if you do not have the information. the battle for our world, the battle for truth. these are the two battles that are pivotal this year. if we do not do the right things, we will lose both. it is death by a thousand cuts.

we must do more. i do not think it is being a downer, because obviously we have hope. we must have hope. i think human values have not changed. we have always had the devil and the angel on our shoulders, but the way these social media platforms have been formulated fans the devil in your ear and encourages us against them, splintering our public sphere so that each of us can take a role. we get rid of the lies in our immediate areas of influence. we look for what binds us together rather than what pulls us apart. we asked a bit like outsiders so that we can understand and analyze a bit better. i think for the journalists in the audience, there is no time

that requires the mission of journalism, of true scholars, no time like now. we need to do this and we need to do it now. [applause] ♪■úó with a confederate flag

flying next to an ice cream parlor. the owner of the shop is not happy. tommy daras: that flag is not mine. it's aiece of operty thathe nfederate verans own. del ro: a ttle erus within t communi. buzz braon: e confedere battlelag is theoldier flag. that'shye proud . it stands for racism, slavery, hatred. detoro: "meltdown dixie." on erica reamed. america reframed■ was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting, the john d. and catherine t. macarthur foundation, wyncote foundation,