he claimed, of numerous battles against both the government and nato troops >> at the moment we are just sitting and waiting in the secret hideout. i'm not allowed to disclose where we are. the atmosphere is a little bit tense. people they are preparing themself... >> i would be going with them when they headed out. >> the time right now, i think it's 3 o'clock in the morning. and i think we're gonna leave in maybe one hour, one and a half hour. but i'm not really sure. they're changing the plans all the time. >> then, they get the signal. >> we're on our way to the place where they are going to fight a battle early in the morning. the plan is, they told me, to capture an afghan national army base. the only thing i know is that they say they're going to fight until they capture the base. they're not going to withdraw. >> catch more "faultlines" episodes on demand or at aljazeera.com/faultlines. primetime news. >> welcome to al jazeera america. >> stories that impact the world, affect the nation and touch your life. >> i'm back. i'm not going anywhere this time. >> only on al jazeera amer

as the us and nato prepares to pull out most of their forces later this year, i travelled here to trysee what life is like in areas of afghanistan under the rule of the taliban. after days of negotiations, through intermediaries - i was told i would be allowed in, with a camera. >> i'm actually quite nervous and the reason is that five years ago when i tried to embed with a group of insurgents in helmand i was kidnapped and i was held for a week. i was lucky and managed to escape from them but still i don't hope that i will end up in the same situation. >> this sort of access is incredibly rare... its also risky - this is taliban country. >> charkh is a cluster of dusty settlements surrounding a small, central town. the taliban of charkh were burying their dead. >> one of the two taliban fighters killed in an attack on a local afghan army base. a lot of inhabitants from this village in charkh have gathered today. >> they're here to pay their respects. they're here also to mourn, and also show that they are proud. >> the dead man's father was amongst the mourners. >> many of the dead f

the hunt for the mystery submarine, evoked the cold war, in the cold war the soviet union and nato had systems in place to talk to each other and prevent situations from escalating. >> there's really an urgent need in military to military communication between nato and russia, about where they're militaries are doing and what they are doing, so everybody is a little bit calmer and nobody is expecting a surprise attack and therefore, everyone can take a little bit of:00 over decisions. >> in rebel territory this week yet more evidence says nato of a new aggressive russia prepared to use force beyond its borders. russia says it's the west that interferes and seeks to expand its influence. it may not be the ideologically issues o -- ideologic issues. >> zambia is preparing to bury its president. a truce between rival factions has held. tanya page reports. >> the viewing of zambia's late president michael sata is overwhelming for some mourners. >> i want him back! >> most had never met him but they feel they've lost their father. thousands have queued for hours to pay their last respects.

and that needs to be the nato and u.s. forces, not u.s.forces but ground forces, people on the ground, that is what we need to talk about. and it needs to be to help these countries defend themselves, i would do it covertly rather than overtly, but it needs to be done. on the economic piece, the problem that came out in our strategy group is for every one that we made economically, vladimir putin has counters. and they have much more influence. this is what is tricky. how can we make the ukraine and economic success is actually russia is working to make it a basket case. >> this is tough. i hope these right, but i sometimes wonder how far the writ runs if at some point they might break up under the kind of pressure they are under. it's not bad weather, but it is hard to reverse climate change and i think that we need to find a way to get people talking about this as we step back in how russia has changed, how europe has changed, and what is a vision going forward. because we are in new territory and i'm worried that we are not stepping bac

despite good relation with his russia, nato uses its join command certainty and its f-16s to be nato'ss and ears in the sky when it comes to russia. norway runs that operation from its military head quarters. which it recently moved 600 miles north to buddha. becoming the only country with a military headquarters inside the arctic circle. one big reason for the move, to keep better tabs on russia. buried deep inside an arctic mountain, norwegian officers track incoming russian bombers on giant monitors. an image that conjures up memories of 1950s cold war suhr surveillance and lately that era has come roaring back to life. brink man ship between nato and russia has always existed. but the crisis in ukraine may have fundamentally redefined moscow's relations with the west. >> i think without question the ukrainian crisis has pushed the russia-west relationship over the cliff and in to something that is qualitatively different than what we had for most of the cold war period. >> nay speech putin gave to russia's parliament announcing the annexation of crimea, he outlined a new vision for

and 4:00 p.m. pacific. as you saw in the clip, nato is ready to support ukraine if called. tinue our conversation, george in washington, otilia in london and michael, the ofce in kiev. is it realistic to think that nato under its current rules of engagement would come to the defense of ukraine? >> well, nato as an organization cannot be involved because ukraine is not a nato member right now. but nato member and the united states and european partners can provide economic and military assistance to the ukrainian people to help convince them to defend their territory and get putt on it back off from attac attacking his neighbors. >> otillia, what kind of impact do you think the behavior of russian's president vladimir putin in the way that they're thinking about their future and the future of russia with europe? >> well, it is making a lot of people nervous. it is not just the crisis in ukraine as it is, but also russia's assertive behavior along the border. we've seen incursions in the air space of the baltic countries. i'm sure you remember the story of sweden a couple of w

in a very quick point in march of 1997, and it happened to do with nato enlargement on our fact findingtrip. and so first we dealt with this and boris yeltsin had been at the summit in helsinki a day or two before. and we met with just about everyone who wanted to be included and most importantly was with the national security staff in the kremlin late at night. we talked about details of possible enlargement and were they happy about a? now. were they the slightest bit worried? not in the slightest. and was there any talk that there had been a promise and that we would ever do this? now. by the end of the discussion we were talking about if russia continued on its current trajectory could it somehow join nato. so one final point having to do with the legal defensive weapons of the ukraine, the decision will happen sooner rather than later and there are at least two bipartisan bills in congress right now and unless i read it incorrectly, tony said that the administration felt that it was about time that we furnish us. my question is, what are the implications for relations with russia a

and nato. a quarter century later, former polish president lech walesa says, his country is on the borderline with another cold war with moscow. rchg 1980 a young electrician climbed this gate and rallied the 17,000 striking workers who had barricaded themselves here in the gadansk shipyards. the solidarity movement was born. poland's solidarity movement exposed poland's first contraction in europe, and that young leader was lech walesa, galvanizing support which brought poland's communist government to the negotiating table. ten years later, walesa went on to become poland's first popularly elected president and presided over his country's transition to a postcommunist state. but today, as the crisis unfolds in neighboring ukraine the poles are again feeling pressure from moscow. i sat down with the man who was there from the beginning. a quarter-century after his historic election, lech walesa again has his eye on russia. >> thank you so much for speaking to us. you've been speaking so much ab

together is a list of the incidents that go beyond a routine or near routine encounters between russia and nato and its partners, sweden and finland, and we have seen an increase in the number of incidents. we have also seen an increase in the gravity of the incidents. some were cited, but they also mention closing counters between spy planes and fighters, flags of warships in the black sea and baltic sea, and three cases and which russian fighters and bombers actually simulated bombing raids against sweden, against denmark, and against the united states. obviously the dynamics, it is very disturbing. and we are worried that these incidents can get out of hand. >> you are calling these incidents disturbing and russia is simply saying we are improving our defenses. can we dismiss russia's characterization of these incidents? >> obviously we have seen more military traffic. so to say in europe, beyond ukraine, when we have seen conflict, but also along the nato-russian border, more exercises. obviously more surveillance, more reconnaissance planes assets put together by both sides. also by nato.

the russians denying they are moving into a sovereign country and sovereign territory. american, nato and ukraine officials are saying otherwise. this has been happening for months. >> reporter: it is been going on for almost a year. two competing versions of the truth. the fighting which is intense. the area and airport outside of donetsk. it is further proof the cease-fire declared with the ukrainian government and separatists back in september doesn't mean much. never lived up to its name. there has been hope that the end of the fighting has been blown away because of the escalation on the fighting, but because of the assessments by the ukrainian government and nato and european oth observers on the ground. the heavy weaponry within the separatists area. russia again denying totally that it has any military presence in ukraine. ukrainian government, it says that doesn't mean a lot to us. we heard this before and we know what happens next. the ukrainian government believes in situations like this and it knows through experience when a large number of professional heavily armed soldi

and assaulted them. turkey is a member of nato and a u.s.y just over 800,000 american tourists visit turkey each year. here with details, cnn pentagon correspondent has more. what more can you tell us? >> the obama administration calling this video appalling and straight-up calling it an att k attack. take a look at these. these three navy sailors were on shore leave. they were approached by a group of men shouting at them and throwing things at them and pushing and shoving these navy sailors and they grabbed them and put bags over their head. one has to think that these young men were absolutely terrified as to what might be happening to them, but they don't resist. they put up their hands and they try and do everything they can to stay calm, much to their credit, the navy says, even as this attack is under way. >> later, a group called the turkish youth union claimed credit for this attack. this is an anti-government group in turkey not associated with isis and not associated with al qaeda, but officials are saying it does underscore some

and nato troops to stay in the country beyond this year.s claimed responsibility for the attack. >>> a magistrate in hong kong says the british banker accused of killing two indonesian women is fit to stand trial. rurik jutting returned to court monday. police found the women's bodies in his apartment earlier this month with the remains of one stuffed in a suitcase. >>> a soyuz rocket is now docked with the international space station. it arrived just six hours after its launch. three crew members including italy's first female astronaut left kazakhstan sunday for a six-month research mission. >>> negotiators in vienna are trying to come to an agreement over iran's disputed nuclear program. they had given themselves until monday to reach a deal. a failure would likely raise tensions between iran and the west. both sides have hinted that they may be willing to extend the talks. well, for the latest on those talks and what's at stake, i'm joined by twita parsi. he is founder of the national iranian-american council and an expert on u.s.-irani

and west berlin -- it is under occupation. i do not see any possibility for uniting. >> you say you have two states that are divided militarily between the nato and warsaw pa c cts. isn't it possible that president bush and gorbachev will be deciding the future of germany? superpowers and small states. they have a right to live and decide on their destiny will bep it is not a matter to discussed by gorbachev and bush. it is a matter to be discussed on the basis of the right to self-determination and the people in the german democratic , again, i think this is a question that does not objective in central europe. we have to be very realistic. allow this event to get out of control by introducing things that are not ready for solutions. we should introduce things that are feasible. >> i know diplomats are not supposed to talk about their personal feelings. would you share your personal feelings? >> of course. i have always had my own feelings. 1968, having my apartment 100 yards from the border with mixed feelings. i would have wanted for the wall to never have been arrested. -- erected. i think the wall has maintained peace. of theter the erec

and nato troops to stay in the country beyond this year. aimed responsibility for the attack. >>> two cleveland, ohio officers are on leave after one of them shot and killed a 12-year-old boy brandishing an air gun. not a real gun. police say the boy ignored officers' commands to put his hands up, that he reached around for his weapon. it's not clear if the officers knew the weapon was fake. >>> the grand jury deciding whether a white policeman should be charged in the death of an unarmed black teen will meet again monday. officer darren wilson's shooting of 18-year-old michael brown in ferguson, missouri sparked months of protests. >>> fallout from a scathing article in "rolling stone" magazine has led the university of virginia to suspend all fraternity activity until next year. the article also spurred police to investigate an alleged gang rape at a frat party. cnn's joe johns reports on the claims of a culture of sexual assault at uva that goes back decades. >> reporter: it's a shocking allegation of rape at the university of virginia. a

estonia, greece and the united kingdom. six the natomit this fall, members close to russia have upped their spending commitments. with lithuania and latvia pledge to go meet the 2% target by the end of the decade and poland by 2016. but further air way, some of the other lineses biggest european members have yet to step up their defense spending. including germany. which recently suffered several embarrassing episodes involving poorly-maintained military aircraft trying to deliver support to iraq and ebola aid to afteafrica. >> in germany spends more on its defense it will signal to russia that they are serious about the problems rus russia created. >> reporter: while reports of rising russian provocations in the air and on the seas have yet to convince some of 80 owe's biggest european members to jack up defense spending, the alliance still boasts vastly superior military capabilities, thank in large part to the united states. patricia sob gga. >> stepping up military exercises and troop rotation on his their eastern frank, all next we

and nato forces and comes at a time where president obama has an expansion of the role of troops thatere to train the afghan military. the exact details of what, in fact, these troop also be doing remains unclear but it certainly comes at a time where afghan forces are struggling to meet the taliban threat. we have seen a different strategy used by taliban in resent months and sometimes 400 taliban fighters targets the south and east of the country and three big attacks here in kabul in the last couple of weeks and also draws into question more efforts that are being made in terms of the diplomacy on international level and trying to bring the taliban to peace talks and trying to initiate some sort of truce. we had president ghani in saudi arabia in resent weeks and pakistan after failed efforts to bring countries on board to try and mediate. certainly agreements that have been vote today in parliament and signals coming from washington for expansion of the u.s. troops that will be staying here very significant in terms of the security here in afghanistan. >> reporter: five years afte

and nato put forward second week of september. and is it time for the urine paeons to say they need to raise the strength of those sanctions? >> the challenges. and they defined it as such. and detrimental to the security. and european union and the united states so with this asymmetry from the beginning of the question is, is this asymmetry and since they carol lot more about this than we do how do we deter them from going further in what they are doing? several rounds of sanctions, clearly affected russia economically. and the economic situation is deteriorating, and $28 billion in capital flight in october. we could go on and on so economically it has been very detrimental but instead of leading russia to step back in this hybrid world it redoubled its efforts even recently. the cease-fire agreement on september 5th, i won't say it is in tatters but it is not working well, hundreds of casualties and it is really questionable whether more sanctions, the sanctions would be tougher sanctions on energy on the banking system. whether

and nato forces remaining in afghanistan to continue training afghan forces. the afghan intelligence service says that it has foiled 11 suicide attacks in patika province in the last month alone. the focus on training their afghan counterparts has never been more important. charles stratford al jazeera, kabul. >>> still are ahead, unusually heavy rain kills 32 people in southern morocco. and we're on eastern ukraine's front line with rare access to fighters on both sides of the conflict. >> now time for a reminder of the top stories on al jazeera. world powers have failed to reach a deal with iran on its nuclear program at the end of historic talks in vienna. they'll reconvene in december an work towards a deal by middle of next year. >>> the u.s. defense secretary chuck hagel has resigned. he announced his intention to step down at a press conference with president obama and vice president biden. >>> the peshmerga backed by government troops and the shia militia have taken back two towns in dyallah problems of ro. >>> italy has tagged its first case of ebola.

and nato forces are set to leave afghanistan at the end of the year. new survey shows the number of people who feel their country is moving in the wrong direction has risen as concerns about security, corruption and unemployment showed increases over 2013. >> that is according to a foundation that says that is up over last year's 37.9%. >> germany will be keeping soldiers after the nato withdrawal and will continue backing a number of programs with 430 million euros to grow the nation's economy. >> teacher trading at a vocational school. a sewage pipe does not fit. how can they get the job done? they are doing their best to train 3000 people, including 500 girls. getting a hands-on look at the workshop. education is key afghanistan's future. 70% of afghans are illiterate. >> one of the big problems is that so many people are unemployed. that raises the poverty rate. that is an issue for society. >> the vocational school graduates join the ranks of 400,000 young afghans entering the labeler -- labor market every year. mohammed hopes they can rebuild the

lou: to russia, russian government certifying the elections, and united states and nato, sort of shake their heads and wring their hands and that is the response. >> yeah, i'm afraid that is over too, i feel sorry for president poroshenko who took this bad deal for a ceasefire in september, putin has one thi thg in mind, that is to go against in ukraine what he did in crimea, in georgia. he is going to expand his sphere of influence and do what hitler did in '30s, so far he has been successful because nato and united states are doing what great southern california great britain and france did in 1938, and 39. i am a frayed that russians have gained neutere new territory, wn opportunity to reinforces ukraine army to station significant american forces on the periphery, and squeeze putin more economically, but unfortunately, nato and united states are just, setting back and watching this happen. it is tragic. lou: general robert scales, good to have you with us. >> thank you, lou. lou: marine sergeant tahmorressi is reportedly stays close to his family in south florida, enjoying his new

>> it's a mistake not to do so, we ought to be doing it bilaterally through ukraine and the nato channelse do those two things and got sufficient assistance with ammunition, fuel, weapons systems, intelligence, information, cyberassistance, i think the ukrainians are capable of exacting enough of a price to back the russians off. without our help, there will be a de facto control of eastern ukraine by the russians. lou: attacks in jerusalem. four rabbis, a policeman killed today, as talks proceed between the united states and the western powers and iran, toward a nuclear agreement. what are your thoughts and how much can israel tolerate here? >> well, i think prime minister netanyahu spoke very forcefully on this, and i agree with him. this kind of action, killing innocent worshippers in a synagogue making literally a river of blood flow through the synagogue is outragerous, we should be hearing more international condemnation of this, and i think israel needs to take a forceful response at this point. lou: how about allies, whether united states or europe? what should be the response of

last weekend in wales, under the chairmanship of prime minister cameron, canada, united states and the nato countries pledged to stand on guard for the people of the ukraine or for the ukraine and we pledge to stand together dealing against any terrorist threat against the united states, against canada and against any other nato country. that is our pledge today after 200 years of commemoration of this flag. and that is our pledge and our future to always be friends and allies together. thank you. [ applause ] >> thank you very much. now, please welcome maryland senior senator and the longest serving woman in the history of the united states congress, senator barbara mikulski. senator? >> good evening, everybody. welcome to fort mchenry, our national historic shrine. isn't this a great evening to make sure that the united states of america will always be the home of the brave and the land of the free, no matter who comes at us, any time, anywhere, any place in the world. [ applause ] during the battle of 1812, we know that we took on one of the most powerful nations in the world, the britis

and nato in terms of trying to give additional training for the afghan forces and of course this attack shows you just exactly what kind of challenge they face. >> charles stratford in kabul. afghanistan's parliament approved a deal with the u.s. and nato to allow troops to stay in the country. it was approved overwhelmingly by 152-5 vote. 12,000 troops will be in the country to help local forces fight the taliban. >> it appears that tunisia's presidential election isn't quite over, although votes are still being counted. it looks like a runoff will be required to determine the winner. 27 candidates campaigned for the position, but two emerged as the front runners. it's the first time the tunisians voted for president since the arab spring. voter turnout was around 65%. we talked to some voters in the capitol. >> most of the people at this polling station are old enough to remember life in a state where political opposition or freedom of speech were not tolerated. for some, this is the first time they ever voted in a presidential election. >> how are you feeling right now? >> very excit

between nato and russia. unfortunately, we failed -- we got cooperation later but we agroed to the principles. that's why it is possible. the main thing is not agreeing principle, the main thing is to agree how to implement principles and this is the everyday job not only to see them to sign beautiful documents. >> question down in the front. >> thank you. i'm from afghanistan and my question is, minister, how do you assess the security situation in the region when the nato combat operation by the end of this year while we clearly see that the taliban are not completely dismantled, we have iss or isl and we recently see khorasan coming up. how do you see the region will come up with all these security concerns? >> well, the topic of our meeting with russia and u.s., is a real partnership still -- i think if we have a partnership, real partnership it will be with stability in the region because for different reasons it's important for the united states but not less for security situation and we cooperated quit

and nato allowing international forces to remain in the country after this year. all right. coming up, millions of americans about to hit the road and fly the friendly skies for thanksgiving holidays, but will mother nature cooperate? down. we'll even buy you out of your contract. so you can get the samsung galaxy note 4 for zero down today. right! now you're gonna ask for my credit card - - so you can charge me on the down low two weeks later look, credit karma - are you talking to websites again? this website says 'free credit scores'. oh. credit karma! yeah, it's really free. look, you don't even have to put in your credit card information. what?! credit karma. really free credit scores. really. free. i could talk to you all day. >>> moulgz of americans will either drive or fly to their thanksgiving destinations, but some parts of the country could be looking at snow and/or rain. jennifer gray has your holiday forecast. >> fred, this is a huge travel week for a lot of folks. rolling into thanksgiving. we have the macy's parade on thanksgiving day, and we could see snow for

or weakening the resolve of nato and the united states.t says it will keep its soldiers in the baltic nations and poland another year. nato's top military commander visited the ukrainian capitol in a show of support. the president wants to hold a referendum of joining the alliance. >> they have been with nato and in maritime operations with us. we've done training here in ukraine together, and what is important about this work is that it will bring the ukrainian army closer to those nato tactics, techniques and procedures that make them even more inter-operable with our forces in the future. >> merkel told parliament what was needed was patience and staying power. that seems to be moscows approach as well. nick spicer, berlin. >> russia is encouraging the syrian regime and opposition to return to peace negotiations. russia is one of syria's main political allies and is long supported the syrian president bashar al-assad. >>> peter sharp joins us from moscow. what is the significance of this meeting? >> you know, the relationship between sy

tonight, part two of my series, examining the growing tensions between russia and nato. and the how the polish farmers are on the front lines of the economic war, and the keystone pipeline, it's not dead yet. i will talk to someone who says it deserves to live on, and another blow to the american dream. why owning a home keeps getting more and more out of reach for the middle class. i'm ali velshi, and this is "real money." today, ukrainian president, roishenko, said that rebels are pouring in, and six more ukrainian troops died today. and nine more wounded. meanwhile, russian president, vladimir putin, accused the united states of foam enting a new cold warp. russia's president is still strong. the german business groups have been some of the biggest opponents to western sanctions on russia, and even so, the european union promises more sanctions in the pipeline if russia doesn't back off. and ukraine, that's why putin is warning the industry and agriculture to come up with plan b. today, putin urged companies to sale to russia's domestic market and away from trade with

this does put moscow and nato on a direct collision course. what breedlove has said is nothing new. people who have been stationed in the east of ukraine have been seeing such things for weeks now. what makes this different, what makes this an escalation of sorts is that the comment has come from the top commander of nato itself. and that is season who politicians in the e.u. and in america, in the united states will listen to very carefully. so we have on tuesday a meeting of e.u. foreign ministers gathering to talk about whether to hit russia with more sanctions. >> thank you very much. >>> in other world news palestinian security officials have accused israeli activists of setting fire to a mosque in the occupied west bank. the first and second floors of the building have been damaged. let's go live to the mosque. i imagine the community there very much angry at this incident. set the scene for us first. just how damaging was this fire? >> reporter: that's right. an awful lot of anger, but i should also say a real sense of sadness here, too.

and shinzo abe announcing an early election as the japanese economy continues to shrink. in the nature general says -- secretary-general -- the natoecretary-general says there is a military buildup both in ukraine and on the russian side of the border. it is time now to look at what is making headlines around the world. first, let's have a look at those papers. they are focusing on the islamic state group video released on sunday that shows the beheading of the usaid worker, peter kassig. >> there is one angle in particular that is getting a lot of attention, the angle of the foreign jihadists that appears in this video. let's take a look at the front page of the guardian, a screen grab from the video for some you can see these two men who are reportedly fire -- foreigners fighting alongside the islamic state group. on the left, the man is thought to be 20-year-old british student from cardiff, master mutawa. the guardian reports that his father has said it could be him. but later said seeing the screen grab it's not his son. it's unclear exactly who that man is. the man on the right has been identified by the paris prosecutor as

russia. >> putin has tried to show that note toe is basically ineffective, so how does nato show that it is effective, and one thing i know you thought about, is military exercises, is that something that is realistic for nato. >> that is on a permanent bases on troops. in latvia, in poland, but in addition to that, we also have to see european countries. a really transatlantic effort, really coming together and reassuring those allies that are feeling vulnerable. >> all of these will be coming together, many of them, very soon, do you think that in terms of the time line of when we will see actual action, over there, that it is going to be soon i am hopeful thatly continue to do so, if they do see more of that, especially given the deteriorating security situation not just in ukraine, but throughout europe at large, increasing incidents of russian airplanes flying into nato territory, and other countries, i think there is a need to have a tougher and a stronger response to some of these actions, not only to assure allies but to deter russia. thank you so much. >> back in this country, republicans have mo

violence and rivalries have split people, the country has fallen into chaos since the 2011 nato backedprising that deposed leader rival brigades have defied the authority, divided and unable to restore law and order. in fighting and attacks between rival rebel groups have become common, some brigades even seized oil ports and deprived the libyan government of it's main source of revenue. so far none of the groups have shown any sign of reconciliation, and it is unlikely the supreme court decision will do anything to change that. al jazeera. >> nato secretary general is in the cap can toll of afghanistan today. he promised to continue can supporting government forces there at the u.s. and other troops yawn at the end of this year. it has been a punishing year. has killed more than 4,600 afghan forces so far this year. that's about 15 a day. >> the afghans are taking the full responsibility for their own security. we are going to assist and help them, but the responsibility yet the taliban are still very strong here, and al quaida still elements here, according to your own senior general

shared culture, trade and investment, shared fundamental values reaffirmed at the nato summit at the end of last week in south waelz where the president was there with 60 other heads of government, 70 foreign ministers and defense ministers. an extraordinary moment. this fort preserved by america's national park service is hallowed ground. i believe it will not only endure but continue to reach new heights in the years, decades and centuries ahead. thank you for the privilege of being with you this evening to celebrate this great occasion. [ applause ] >> senator, ambassador, i think you very much. the united states marine band will perform my country 'tis of three features master sergeant kevin banier. this was one of the defactor anthems of the united states before the star-spangled banner was conferred, the distinction by the national legislation in 1931. written in 1831, like the star-spangled banner it used an existing british melody to carry the lyrics in this case the national anthem of the united kingdom, god save the queen. ♪ ♪ my native thee ♪ and all the noble three thy nam