no amount of jake carney today at the white house brief and talking about these reporters will make egypt it seems simply say okay, go and sin no more. >> i think egypt is a critically important country. your four are among four that have been -- it's really almost impossible to be the critical of the government now. egypt is the most important country. it is critical to pay more attention, egypt hasn't gotten the attention it deserves. i think in the last seven or eight months and it is at a critical juncture right now. for more open debate about a range of issues. >> from freedom house, and from amnesty international, thank you very much for being with us today. >> thank you so much. >> before we go, we want to tell you about what here at al jazeera are calling a global day of action. wayshow of solidarity and support for four of our journalist whose are jailed in the egypt. al jazeera, and mohammed 1/2ny have been detained since desks abdullah al shammy has been held since august. the work called for their release today at the white house and on the floor on the house of representative

jake carney referred t to repor. there is no question they're taking it seriously. tony, as far as the exercises within russia, sur guy labarok telling john senate, i can tell you that behind the scenes that's met with a lot of skepticism. there is no question that shrine is tending a neglectnal. no what you has it been, the united states government has been trying through h to provid, and in particular the crimea, the access of mission administr, and which heard this is not a cold war redo notwithstanding, tony. >> interesting what we see in part, you were talking about the profit a moment ago, and it's theater people particularly to the east of kiev, look, we understand that the loyalties are divided here. >> yes. >> but we also know that the crimea peninsula are not in love with the others here. they decided on a couple of occasions at the ballot box to stay within ukraine. to stay ukrainian, but they don't necessarily from what i'm understanding from nick and from jennifer, they don't necessarily like the way things have happened in kiev. >> reporter: i think mu

. >> look at the pictures: coffee cups that jake carney drinks, the presidential statement, and the instagramn is something we have never seen before, called "inside the state of the union." the problem is, with all of this, this behind-the-scenes push, the regular media believes and the committee to protect journalists believes we are not getting, the media, are not getting a fair shake. >> the white house doesn't have a monopoly on this. the republicans use social medicinia and it wasn't speaker boehner who . >> he did a 60 -- six second after the state of the union. >> i appreciate what the president said but for those who are asking, where are the jobs? >> there is in question that the white house and the press is up in arms and has limited access to boat photographers and beat reporters but it doesn't mean the white house should not use the technology available. >> that is true, the white house is saying the influence of social media right now is as important as the speech of the look at logistics, last year, president obama had 33 million people tuning in, in television, in a fragmented

. >> -- i'm hopeful that someone in thed a -- administration -- i know jake carney has already spoken out on it. but i'm hopeful that others are working behind the scenes in a quiet way to free these journalists. >> this doesn't just impact the journalists, it also could have and does have an impact on egyptian citizens. what impact do you think it is having? >> well, i think it has a chilling effect on the quest for democracy that we have seen demonstrated by the egyptian people over the last few years with the unrest. the awakening of the people and replacing the authoritarian government with a new government, a new constitution. elections. and that signifies that the people thirst for basic freedom and democracy over in egypt. and so, when the military came in and overthrew the elected government, some may agree or disagree with whether or not that was a proper step. but regardless, it has happened and so we have to deal with the situation as it is in egypt. but we cannot stand for any government that we support treating journalists in the way that these al jazeera journalists have

more widespread effects than we're even beginning to contemplate, jake. >> senior national security correspondent jim sciutto. jay carneytly are the u.s. national security interests and carney talked about human rights and territorial sovereignty. explain what experts are telling you, what is the interest that the u.s. has in preventing russia from making incursions into the ukraine? >> i think you have a handful. here is one. stability. ukraine is in europe. this is not a million miles away. it's a country of 50 million people. the prospects -- i don't want to say civil war but an internal conflict that close to europe is inherently unstabilizing. that's one issue. two, you have, you know -- the president says he doesn't want to play a cold war chess game here but in fact you may see that playing out. clearly, russia at least has cold war nostalgia for its fear of influence. it wants to claim back at least the western -- the eastern part, rather, of the ukraine. and you see it playing out in this country a push and pull between the east and west. the eastern part of the country leaning towards russia, russia system, th

. >> and interesting that you mentioned that, jake, because white house press secretary jay carney was asked about this during the briefing and he made a point by saying that the president has worked on this issue throughout his presidency, not just in the second term. so they are sensitive to that criticism. but i have to agree with gloria. this was one of the most emotional moments that we've seen from president obama. he called this no drama but it was drama from his childhood, growing up without a father, experimenting with dope. he talked about that during his remarks and interesting to note, jake, that this is basically the limit of what the president can do in the second term. a lot of his agenda is not going to get passed on capitol hill. he signs an executive order directing the administration to find out what works, what doesn't work when it comes to at-risk youth and this is a part of his convening authority, bringing together like-minded individuals to advance his agenda. jake? >> and someone who covers these issues a lot for cnn is our own don lemon. tell us what you've se

jake tapper last week before tonight's ban on all liquids in carry-ones on flights to russia and before that dhs warning that explosives could be concealed in toothpaste and cosmetics tubes. whouz press secretary jay carney saying that this afternoon that this latest threat was announced out of abundance of caution. >> i would note certainly since 9/11 there have been many threats to aviation involved with sharing of airlines and our job and we're doing so again in this case. >> now, carney also said today that if the administration receives new information here in the coming days, the coming weeks that that assessment of security has changed. the state department stands ready to issue a travel alert. the president at this point, wolf, is receiving very regular briefings on the security at the games. he met with vice president joe biden, secretary of state john kerry and cia director as well as fbi officials directive to them was to make sure that they are cooperating to make sure that the games are secure. >> brianna, thank you very much. let's bring in our senior national correspondent ivan watson. he's on the ground in sochi where the athletes are arriving. how concerned are they about the threats tha