that assad is all alone.that really true in if all he had left was the army wouldn't be this over already? >> i -- i believe that -- what the united states of america is doing right now is pursuing a one track approach. they are working on diplomacy, and not paying attention to what is happening on the battlefield. assad is receiving substantial support, and regardless of whether this conference will lead anywhere -- >> but isn't there a fraction of the syrian people that still supports this man? >> i wouldn't say a sizable fraction. if he had a sizable fraction, he wouldn't have to bomb his own people. he feels he has to use every single weapon in his arsenal in order to stay in power, and bring in militias, from iraq, hezbollah mall -- militia. so if he had this support, he couldn't need all of that. >> what do you make of that same question? where does he stand with the syrian people today? >> well, i think he feels very strong. the united states has spent a little less than $2 billion on this. that's the

kerry is trying to say that assad is by himself. the assad regime, the family is by himself. this is not the syrians who protect him, this is the not syrians who may represent him. this is simply one family and their determination to stay in power. kerry's goal and the u.s. officials i talk to, their goal is to isolate him so much diplomatically that he feels like he can't continue that violence. isolate him so much diplomatically that iran and russia, his main backers, feel that they cannot continue to back him. russia and iran, as you just laid out are continuing to support him. the real question of how far you can get if anywhere in this conference until the they can find that pressure point, but they clearly haven't found the pressure point. >> for months now they have been sifting the public utte utteranf foreign minister labrov. one week it sounds like they're ready to acknowledge that there will be a post assad syria. the next week they're right behind him 100% all the way. where are they now? we have to look at it two ways. syria gives access to the mediterranean. rus

they want to overturn assad. their real beef is to hold the american's feet to the fire and make them deliver on this promise that they made at geneva one that assad would step down. they don't have the power to do that themselves. that's what's going on right now. admit to the position that assad has to go. obama said that early in his fight. he perhaps regrets it today, but america has been stepping back from at a position and stopped supplying arms, stopped supplying aid of any kind to the rebels. that is in part the game that's being played here on a lead up to this geneva two meeting. >> now that assad must go has been the position of the united states from the beginning, or close to the beginning, but assad has two very important and potent region alabam regional an russia. >> reporter: they're backing them, and joshua landis correctly pointed out in his comments that without any pressure on the ground, without political power, military power to remove assad there is no reason for him to leave. he's not goi

assad is and calling assad a war criminal. it goes to show how much the u.s. is trying to isolate him and step up the game, if you will, for lack of any military pressure on assad, trying to create more political pressure and legal pressure on assad. if the u.n. does go forward with that investigation we can be sure we'll be talking about these allegations of torture, whether or not they're true or not, but the fact that we were talking about them, that means that will isolate assad, more people will see him in a certain way, and that's exactly what the u.s. is trying to do, trying to get assad to be isolated, and seen even more negatively than he already is, and this investigation and these goats go along with that. >> nick schifrin, thank you for all the work you've been doing. we should point out that in syria the fighting goes on even as we speak. more than 500,000 fleeing the fighting, they're relocating to nearby countries including jordan. there any talk much peace is met with skepticism. they don't believe this peace c

if assad leaves, other countries power grows.o iran is backing the assad regime to the end, and it seems like they are winning. >> what about that suggestion from our two professors that bashar al-assad is more in control of syria than people realize, and stronger, perhaps than people gave him credit for earlier in this war? >> actually i don't share this analysis or view because his power now mainly relies on foreign players in the syrian crisis. he lost, you know, the -- the -- his reserve of manpower to fight his war, so they came to aid him. hezbollah has now become a part of the fight in syria comes from lebanon. the militia is coming from iraq and other volunteers coming from pakistan and others, so that's a clear, i mean, indication that he is now surviving based on using foreign aids and foreign military aids to his regime. >> and is there a risk for those foreigners getting involved? that they get a bloody nose and diminished in the process themselves like hezbollah? >> well, the much bigger risk for them is if they lose

what do you make of thieves statements fro from assad? >> he is living in a dream land of his own concoction. actively campaigning against al-qaeda, since january 3, 5 al-qaeda lieders in syria have been killed by the free syrian army. the free syrian army has liberated mull pell headquarters of al-qaeda in syria, for which we strongly suspect the assad regime has haled direction connection of facilitating. it's become very clear to the whole word especially in these past two days as information corroborated by western intelligence comes to light of assad's direct involvement in supporting al-qaeda elements in syria, it's become very clear to the whole world that the flee syria army's empowering the opposition, empowering local governance and supporting the syrian people's revolution against the assad regime and transition into a democratic syria is the only and the dote to terrorism. it is not the assad regime that with him provide the solution. >> please keep us up to date on your efforts. thank you. >> coming up, president obama has co

has demanded the assad must step down or must leave must depart right now the u.s. is accommodating the situation in which he is actually a player in the geneva conference very much. there and not going anywhere and i think the u.s. administration is realizing that you know you could offer his departure you can say you can call or demand him to leave but recognizing the reality on the ground is that he's very much there and he may be staying and i'm not sure everybody here in washington would want at the end of the day to see you know i know for israel for a fact that people are those who are unease with the situation because on one hand if the outcome would be that assad stays you would have them aligned with iran the radical access to feed the leaves and you're left with the. groups that are would be controlling syria and that's a good news either so i think that the u.s. has come a long way i think the u.s. as the leader of the western world must demand to depart on the other and i think that realizing that there are constraints on the ground that may have to mak

and we must support a pathway to ending bashar al-assad's reign. support for a political solution is not mutually exclusive to our commitment to defend the syrian people and enable and empower the free syrian army to defend syrian communities from the assad regime's militias and death squads that are responsible for the killings and deaths of hundreds of thousands of individuals of which this report clearly documents. we have to do whatever we can to end this misery, and to save the syrian people. this political process is one pathway, and we hope as this report comes to light that the whole world pays attention, that the whole world bares witness to the true colors of the assad regime, and we hope this provides leverage that we in the syrian opposition require to get the backing of the international community to get bashar al-assad out of the country, and to transition to a democratic government that represents all of the syrian people, and ends assad's killing machine. >> i know that's what you want to end this devastating war and get rid of assa

push the russians to in turn push aside -- assad to allow full delivery of aid. the russian pressure work the chemical weapons deal. the russians did not spend much time convincing assad did to get rid of chemical weapons, they told him to. they should do something similar to his war crimes, war strategy of indiscriminately targeting civilians and blocking humanitarian aid. it's interesting you mention russia because it and china had a very unfortunate role, as someone say, regarding the u.n. and what might have been able to help people little bit more on the ground, yet russia and china continued to block the you one resolutions. tell us about that and what pressure can be put on them. >> exactly. the only security council action that russia in particular -- china is pretty much hiding in russia's shadow -- the only thing russia would allow his october second there was a so-called security council presidential statement which to allowde --assad you miniature and eight unlimited. he is no dumbing. you urge may, you do not order me. this was not a binding resoluti

protesters chanting loyalty to assad. the hope in montrex is for the two sides to come closer together, but so far they're as far apart as every. >> and because that have gab u.s. officials are trying to take baby steps towards peace. they'll talk about humanitarian corridors and trying to reach people who need basic necessities like water and food, and create local cease fires. if you do that, the hope is those local cease fires will expand to regions and cities. it is extremely difficult for these two sides with all the politics and dial up here the violence inside syria continues unabated. >> nick schifrin joins us from montreux, switzerland, thank you very much. >>> edward snowdon said that allegations that he is a russian spy is absurd. he said clearly a he acted alone without assistance much less a government, and this spy push is absurd. snowdon was given temporary asylum in russia. >>> thousands of anti-abortion protesters gather in washington for the march for life. that march is held each year to protest the sup

do we want assad to fall? do we want assad to fall? >> no, we do not. >> look, the victors will be al- qaeda and these jihadists. the guy who runs al-qaeda urged his allies to go against iran, against assad, against russia. these are our enemies. if our ally's cade al-qaeda what kind of war do we want to get into? >> we need solidarity to isolate assad. you're right, we're not going to be sending troops in there and we're not going to necessarily right away get him to step down and we've got to begin the process, which is happening now. as long as we're still talking, there's hope. >> the internal conflicts within iran -- not iran, but within syria are so great that without assad, the whole situation bowl fly out of control. >> you could say same thing in iraq, afghanistan. >> we'll be right back with predictions. j >>> who can beat hill in '16? >> right now no one. >> only hillary can beat hillary. >> if she messed up her campaign she would have trouble. >> that's a good answer. >> that's kind of what happene

and the syrian opposition felt bashar al-assad had to go, and the syrians say assad had to say. let's listen to what john kerry said. >> there is no way - no way possible in the imagination that the man who has led the brutal response to his own people could regain the legitimacy to govern. one man, and those who supported him can no longer hold an entire nation and a region hostage >> nick, with dim et rickly opposed position, how will they get anywhere? >> there's a lot of people here that say they are not going to get anywhere. what the u.s. officials i'm talking to say is wait a minute, yes, the rhetoric is a cas between the two sides. everyone is staking their claims, everyone is saying the worst thing that they could when it comes to starting peace talks. but at least they are here. but the two sides are in the same room. it's the first time that happened in three years of war that killed 130,000 people. the u.s. points out we are all here and great on one thing, the geneva 1 communique. something that everyone signed and agreed to before they came here. in that communique

assad is not going otherwise. we could wish it otherwise but we have to deal with the world as it is. if there is ever going to be a negotiated solution, we are going to need to start talking directly to the syrians, not assad, himself action but to members of his regime. >> you wrote, also, that assad is more doctorinearian and rigid than his father and many westerners hoped he would be different. you are firm and that has not changed and you write that you think he will end up winning this war in a bloody little by little as time goes by? >> i certainly do believe that he is more rigid, less flexible than his father. i was ambassador to syria at the time when his father died and he took over. i had the chance to have several one on one meetings with him and i came to realize that he grew up completely under the system. his father had a relatively liberal education for the place and the time. not bashar. i posited two outcomes: one, the one you mentioned, that the momentum may be shifting and he may get it backya

regime must accept these, which assad and those with blood on their hands cannot take place. >> assad is still insisting that what should come out of this conference is a commitment to defeating terrorism. he had a long interview with the french press and he was spinning this as assad being a champion against terrorism and he kept saying that that's what needs to come out of these talks and he even talked about running again for president in a few months whenever an election date is set. so, don't have much time left. what do you make of these statements from assad? >> assad is living in a dream land of his own concoction at a time when the free syrian army is actively campaigning against al-qaeda. sinceian 3rd -- january 3rd, five have been killed by the syrian army. the free syrian army has liberated multiple headquarters of al-qaeda in syria for which we suspect the assad regime has had direct connections with facilitiating the al-qaeda presence in syria. it's clear to the whole world, especially in these past two days as information of -- corroborated by western intelligence comes

nobody would have believed that assad would have given up his chemical weapons.ut he did and the reason he did is that his patrons came to understand that he had to. and i believe as we begin to get to geneva and get into this process that it will become clear that there is no political solution whatsoever if a stock is not discussing the transition and if he thinks he is going to be part of that future. it's not going to happen. the people who are the opponents of this regime will never ever stop. there will be a low-grade insurgency, at worst potentially even the civil war if it continues because they will not stop. now we also were not out of options with respect to what we may be able to do to increase the pressure and further change the calculation. i think we have made that clear to the russian foreign minister and others, nor are other players short of an ability to be able to have an impact here. so i think you know they can bluster, they can protest, they can put out distortions. the bottom line is we are going to geneva to implement geneva i. if assad d

of the assad george.hey kill whenever they want, and they kill with snipers. >> he needs surgery, but his mother has no money. her husband has been in jail for two years. she doesn't even know if he's still alive. >> assad separates the children from their fathers. he makes all the children orphans. >> outside those children fill their days with whatever activities they can. they don't trust the sanitation. they are members of a generation far from home and isolated. back in in the room their three-year-old has no toys. one-year-old, the one so hungry she tries to eat paper, she has leukemia. they don't know what to do or who to turn to, so they ask help from god. >> because no one else will help you? >> no, nobody will help. >> turkey said it needs financial help. until then or until syria is safe, these refugees fear they will lose what little they have. >> that was nick schifrin reporting from switzerland. >>> right now northeastern mid-atlantic states are dealing with another winter storm. this system

the goal is to create a transitional government to replace bashar al-assad, but assad is talking about running in the next presidential election. given that the two sides are so far apart its hard to make even the smallest steps towards peace. >> all syrian people at the moment want it to stop. >> in a conference that is supposed to talk peace the two sides are yelling at each other. [ arguing ] >> the man is a pro syrian government journalist. the woman, a member of the opposition. this may be just one moment on a conference sidelines. in the conference hau hall, it's just as divided. >> there is no way possible that the man who has led to a brutal response to his own people could regain legitimatcy to governor. >> reporter: president assad said he had no intention of stepping down. >> no one, mr. kerry, in the world has the right to give legitimacy or withdraw legitimacies from a president, government, constitution or law in anything in syria but syrians. >> syrians are being brutalized. the government is accused of torturing protesters. the opposition and the u.s. calls the regime i

that he expects assad to win. so assad i think had begun to feel that perhaps theres with a changing mood in the west. he discovered in geneva there is no change in the west. kerry was very dramatic, this is about regime change. he said that assad is the reason for the jihadists there, he is the magnet. and until he goes, jihadists will not go. >> okay. >> and that was his assertion. >> let me ask you very briefly, andrew. are you as pessimistic? >> i'm pessimistic in terms of for we were leaving-- relieving the suffering on the ground. i think is no mistake president obama talked about syria three time in the state of the union speech, he talked about surprisingly supporting the moderate rebels. dealing with extremism in syria is as simple as the assad regime t has to involve working with the opposition, the moderate parts we can work with. >> thank you so much again. >> pleasure. >> woodruff: beyond the football game itself, ads have long been a big part of the event that is super bowl sunday. now as people are

just blocks away protesters chanting loyalty to assad. so far they're as far apart as ever. >> given that gap, u.s.-u.n.-return officials who are leading this official are trying to lead in small baby steps. they're trying to swap prisoners so the u.n. and u.s. can reach the millions of people who need basic things like food and water that they haven't been able to get. or they're trying to get localized cease fires. the idea of the two sides talk together and maybe that local cease-fire would expand. the two sides are very far apart. very difficult--while we're talking here the violence in syria continues unabated. >> so we're going to watch these talks unfold over the next few days here, and i'm wondering where are the leverage points, the pressure point. we always hear secretary kerry talking about pressure points. let's talk about the syrian opposition. does it have any leverage an at all in these talks? >> reporter: this is a key question, who can convince russia and assad that he cannot continue this violence against his own people.

trying to keep pressure on assad.hat they are looking for a small little steps, perhaps talk of prisoner exchanges or humanitarian corridors or perhaps local peace deals, but at the end of the day the u.s. believes no matter what happens on the ground, assad has to go. >> assad will never have or be able to earn back the legitimacy to bring that country back together. that's number one. but number two because of those things he has done, because of 130,000 people who have been killed, the opposition will never stop fighting while he is there. and so if your objective is to have peace, this one man must step aside in favor of peace and of his nation. >> reporter: and the u.s. is trying to isolate assad, trying to create russia and iran to stop backing him. but assad has no sense that he has to step down, so while we're talking peace here, the violence in syria is going to continue. >> nick schifrin reporting. thank you. >>> senator john mccain agrees with growing sentimentses that bashar al-assad's government has lost

assad runs the syrian regime. anybody who stands up and says you should really step aside ends up dead or in prison. and that is what has happened for 40 years. and why people expect to today that his generals will stand up and ask him to leave is beyond me. he's to the going to do it. he's fought, he's killed many people in order not to do it. unless somebody is willing to force him to do it which they haven't so far, he's to the going to. and what we've seen, two years of stalemate. and how that balance of power is going to change is a mystery to everybody today. now the opposition has asked that he go. and kerry has taken aside to get them to geneva but he has not told the world how will make that happen. until he does there's no reason to believe it will. >> that's a question, can he force a cease-fire john kerry, or anybody on that side to help the opposition. >> yeah, and it's a good question. until now cease-fires and provision of humanitarian aid a by the regime has meant, well, if the rebels evacuate rebe

assad's serving, it would be possible. but i think the chances of that as pointed out by secretary of state john kerry are nil. >> so where do you see this going? >> i see it going nowhere in the near term in terms of the central mission. there are other potential benefits that can come from this. in particular, if it is possible for the parties or their respective supporters to do something about the humanitarian abomination that is engulfing syria and the entire neighborhood, this would be a tremendous step forward. >> you talk about the abomination that is engulfing the entire neighborhood. there is spill-over into iraq, lebanon, the humanitarian crisis. doesn't that increase the pressure on everyone to try and get a resolution? >> you would think so, and the united nations secretary-general ban ki-moon alluded to this in his statement said basically enough is enough. we need to get this settled. this is a catastrophe. you are approaching the point where nearly half of the syrian population requires some kind of sustain

he said that bashar al-assad has no future inside syria and bashar al-assad could hold not om syria, but the region. >> the right to lead the country does not come from torture or barrel bombs. it comes from the consent of the people. it's hard to imagine how that consent could be forthcoming at this time. >> so, stephanie, it may look calm, behind me the tension is it thick. the consequences for the people is very real. >> nick schifrin reporting from the showers of lake gen geneva. >> syria's civil war - 2 million have fled. we two to lebanon where there are nearly 1 million refugees. as talks get under which way, what is the feeling there. >> i'm standing outside a refugee registration center. earlier we were in some of the unofficial tented refugee camps, and we spoke to them asking them how they feel about the inches, and they say basically, sadly, that they have little hopes, very low expectations of this conference. and say that it's coming too little too late. almost after three years since the conflict broke out. as refugees, they suffered the most because he they had to lea

their own forces are fight ago longside assad's forces. how do you solve the problem if they're not at the table? gwen: that's what we will wait to see. maybe this very weekend we will see progress or maybe not. we will find out. thank you, everyone. we have to stop for now but the conversation continues online on the "washington week" webcast extra, where we will talk about the politics of gender, it's back. thank you, mike huckabee. that streams live at 8:30 eastern time, or catch it all week long at pbs.org/washingtonweek. also online, my take on the great political cartoonist herb block in advance of the hbo documentary on his life, which airs this coming monday. keep up with daily developments seven days a week on the pbs news hour including live coverage tuesday night of the president's state of the union address. and we will see you here right next week on "washington week." good night. >> corporate funding for "washington week" is provided by -- >> we know why we're here. to connect our forces to what they need when they need it. >

they obviously support the assad regime.estic matter and cannot be resolved by people from the outside, not the united states, not them, not anybody. there's not a lot of hope that there's a diplomatic solution. some say humanitarian aid and some progress on visiting and releasing detainees on both sides could help. that's been put into very sharp focus by what we reported this week, the systematic torture and killing, the allegations thereof, of syrian prisoners. >> and you did some amazing work and you showed the world these pictures for the first time right here on cnn earlier this week. i want to show some of those pictures to our viewers. i want to warn our viewers that they are very, very disturbing. young people might not want to be in the room when we show these pictures. these are horrendous pictures. you've heard the reaction from the regime of president bashar al assad that this is really the work of the opposition, the rebels, if you will, and al qaeda who oppose bashar al assad's regime, although it's been well-

assad has any role in the future of syria is the epicenter of these negotiations. but this issue will probably be left until the very end of these talks. in the meantime, they will be trying to work around the other issues on how to structure the transitional authority, and at the very and decide what assad's role will be in this. but it is not really clear at this moment how the government representatives here will accept or not the demands of the opposition. a short while earlier, a special saider to president assad even though members of the international community want mr. to go, he stressed he is popular in syria and the decision whether he has any role in the future of syria should be divided by the ballot box of these are old being salvos to jockey for advantage but at the same time he mentioned that many syrians in the current regime are -- you are not tarnished by atrocities could be acceptable. basically here the syrians are trying to avoid what happened when saddam hussein fell in baghdad and the baptists were purged and the state imploded. veryrn diplom

assad will not be part of that government? >> the first part of the statement is absolutely accurate. the rest of it is not something that was directly addressed by the geneva community. in order to have a chance to move things forward, we believe we need to tackle matters first where agreement can be reached. >> president assad said the purpose should be to discuss ways to fight terrorism and that it is totally unrealistic to share power with the exiled opposition. government and opposition groups made some pretty tough opening shots going into the conference. one position was saying to make sure that assad will go. the government responded, including president assad, with strong statements to the country. this is something i suppose could have been anticipated. now that challenge is to try to make sure that they will find things to talk about and agree upon. >> there is also the introduction of these photographs of torture and killing. supposedly taken by someone who documented it. officialsome organization that says they ha

one on what james was pushing the assad adviser on. and the governments without assad that would have all power in syria to move syria forward. on the other side, humanitarian access, trying to alleviate the suffering of all of those people. the people have had no food, no water, no medicine for eight months. so the government is saying, we heard from the spokesman in the syrian national coalition, and he said that in four days, there is been no sign that the government is willing to alleviate or even talk about the transition. >> listen to this. >> what the assad regime would like it to have political solution. really, you're not serious about any critical solution, you are locked on the political solution that's very bloody and destructive. >> tony, that gives you the sense, we heard from the syrian government side and the opposition, and these guys are nowhere near each other. there's no sign that any talks have crete gains right now want. >> and we heard the adviser talk about the ballot box, the idea of free and fair elections. >>

today people can more clearly understand how alone assad is in standing up for himself. for syria. and the resolution to this crisis cannot be about one man's insistence or one family's insistence about clinging power. this needs to be about empowering all of the syrian people. the international community expressed a united vision for syria that respects its citizens and protects the rights of every group, every sect, every faith, mr mrurallism where all people are represented. a nation in which all syrians can peacefully consult their government without fear of retribution, fear of imprisonment, fear of death. a syria that works closely with its neighbors, but also can exist peacefully as a sovereign, independent, and democratic state. these are the syrian people's hopes for the future of their coup try and, and we support them. now, let me emphasize, as i said earlier in my comments today, what happened in syria began in the wake of the transformation that began to break out, throughout the middle east, and everybody knows the events that began in libya and tunisia and

officials take on again this new vigorous rhetoric against assad's government saying that it is just not moving quickly enough in terms of eliminating the chemical weapons that it's promised to get rid of the crisis torn country on wednesday for one we heard from the u.s. intel is an intelligence chief james clapper tell the u.s. senate that there may be reason to believe that assad's regime may have advanced its biological program and me be able to advance and create agents of that sort then we heard from the u.s. state department department spokesperson jen psaki say that the syrian government assad's government has only so far relocated as little as just five percent of the chemical stockpiles in the country also joining the voices of politicians who are saying let's see this process now. much quicker and of course our most recently we heard from the u.s. secretary of state john kerry see that the process really needs to pick up the tempo that it's too slow and that if assad's regime doesn't listen ah something else would happen take a listen. we now know that. assad regime is not

secretary of state john kerry he's now glad we did it all on president assad let's take a listen here of self has even been funding some of those extremists even purposefully shooting some territory to them in order to make them more of a problem so we can make the argument that he is the protector against them nobody is going to be fooled america's top diplomat was speaking at a news conference in washington earlier fred let's cross live now to a political is very great says that he's got to think about it either eric thanks for being with us the interesting words from john kerry does not tally up with the foreign funding of rebels the you know the funding i'm going to already know he's sort of turning the corner here how to tally up why i think that part of the reason why kerry was forced say that is because the united states has backed itself into a diplomatic corner up until this point we've seen washington continuing with the narrative that the opposition the so-called moderate opposition is really the key and that they are the true representatives of the syrian people but of cou

that would be a way of putting pressure on bashar al-assad. bashar al-assad is in the cat bird seed. he is the one winning. who is beginning to make ipp roads in aleppo and other cities that have been largely under rebel control. he is the one enjoying the sight of the rebels and the group known isis. he's in a strong position, backers in russia and iran see no reason to make the sacrifice of stepping down. he will not do so >> let's talk about long term. if the rebels come to the table and reach an agreement, does it matter considering how fractured the group is. there may be one group sign on, but there are others. how do you get everyone behind? >> we can say for certain that the foreign jihadists, fighting under the banner of isis, they repudiate talks and syria. they want to go back to the muslim calafat. outside of that, the rebels fighting under the banner of the free syrian army, which is the so-called moderate groups have been to disgusted over time with the syrian national coalition, the political grouping because they haven't suppli

certainly what it means for president bashar al-assad. where is russia? >> the objective is to end the crisis in syria, the killing. for that objective to be attainable almost a year-and-a-half ago, we negotiated the so-called geneva communiquÉ. now it is regarded as the basis of negotiations. it is a complex document. parties idea is the two should get together and discuss a transition to a future where everyone would be comfortable to live, all ethnic and religious groups that exist in the country. this is where we are coming from. specific issues need to be negotiated. this particular matter of the future of president assad is certainly complex and delicate. it is a thorny issue. the government is adamant that he should stay. the opposition is adamant he should go. tactic it is a very wise that lakhdar brahimi is pursuing . >> the u.n. representative. >> his contact with the parties has started in geneva today to try and find common ground on some issues first. maybe humanitarian issues. exchange of prisoners. access to areas where humanitarian assista

you have to hit them. >> if you go in against assad you help al-qaeda and against al-qaeda you help assad. the two-year-old girl pulled from the rubble and the video. and you look at it and see it. one side can play it for propaganda and the little girl is alive and this is what is happening in that country time and again. you believe whether it is assad and syria and putin in moscow. they are playing us well. >> not only putin and assad, the iranians, and even hammid karzi is the crazy uncle of sprl affairs, they are -- international affairs they are all playing us. bottom line for obama. negotiations. he believes it can be solved with words. there are times when you must defend yourself and humanity with force. >> wow. thank you for your input today. >> thank you. >>> house minority leader nancy pelosi taking shots in the tea party and calling its members anti- everything and saying they have no agenda. >> and a tone ager plunging to earth from 3,000 foot in the hair. her incredible story of survival. >> wow. we know that there is no such thing of a free lunch. is that any reason to thr

i am convinced there is only one man in israel assad ever feared and that is ariel sharon because assad knew sharon was willing to play by hama rules. would you agree? >> assad is afraid of me, maybe that is something to avoid in the future, but it is not the right one. i do not believe in it, i do not believe that -- it is something outrageous. i cannot accept that. i never believed in this violence and terror. i think about the man, assad, who in order to overcome a certain resistance destroyed may be one of the oldest cities in the world, leveled the city, killed 25,000 people, assad is a tyrant. nothing about democracy. i can see what they're doing now in lebanon. >> do you think assad fears you? >> that is what tom friedman writes. if assad fears me, that may be a good thing. the strength of israel, enough to misjudge israel, to the result -- the way that we restrict ourselves, but when it comes to military strength, i think it is better to be careful. if he fears, i think maybe that is a good thing, but entirely different things, entirely different people -- we never believed in m

. >> it has been a farce because anyone who believes that bashar al-assad is going to willingly transition out of power is obviously -- it's just crazy. >> senator john mccain weighs in on those shaky peace talks. >>> reports of concessions to protesters in ukraine, and a very volatile day in egypt, more than a dozen deaths from comings and clashes. ♪ >>> talks aimed attending syria's civil war may be in jeopardy. government and opposition negotiators were supposed to hold their first face-to-face meeting today. it never happened. nick schifrin has been covering this conference, he joins us live from geneva with more on where things stand now. and nick, i know there have been developments in the last few minutes. >> reporter: yeah, just in the last few seconds. what we're seeing right now is the special representative of the unite nationed who is doing what the un likes to call proximity talks between bashar al-assad representatives here in geneva and in a separate room, opposition forces who represent the rebels on the ground. and we just heard him say the two sides will meet on saturday.

assad is at the center of talks under way in geneva where secretary kerry is making it clear that assad has to go, but does assad think that? >>> plus, a national debate over changing voter i.d. laws spotlights pennsylvania today, where a judge has blocked the controversial 2012 law. will president obama push for more federal action? got a busy show for you. at lof campaign updates. interesting little abortion politics takeaway, that i want you guys to think about. >>> it's a snowy washington. wednesday, january 22nd, the "the daily rundown," and we'll start with how the weather is crippling the northeast. the snow that walloped us, still falling along the coast in some spots but it's moved out of the i-95 corridor. this is a live look at massachusetts where they're truly getting dumped on. and now, there's brutally cold temperatures. they're settling in. single digits in many places. it's going to make it tough for folks who are digging out. snow becomes ice pretty quickly when it's single digits. the worst of the storm hit new jersey and massachusetts where more than 15 inches of snow

is now warning of a new threat from the assad government america's director of national intelligence james clapper claims damascus may have the capabilities to produce biological weapons or he's made a point not joins me live now with more details on this marina just how it is then this technology according to clapper. well the u.s. director of national intelligence claims that syria has not successfully weaponized biological agents in affective delivery system but he says that the government possesses conventional weapons systems that could be used to launch biological weapons now speaking to the senate intelligence committee james clapper said that america's spy agencies believe that some elements of syria's biological warfare program might have advanced beyond the research and development stage and might be capable of limited agent production now the timing of these comments are quite interesting you have to understand them in context mr clapper is making these allegations as damascus has been successfully complying with the russian u.s. brokered deal to remove and destroy its ars

because their ultimate goal is to get rid of assad. while inside syria survivors of the alleged recount the horrors they saw one is limited minutes and save this city more than a month ago the last four in to recruit to film in the area since it was taken. also this hour the ukrainian president agrees the last part of a peace deal to end protests in kiev the demonstrators refused to leave the barricade saying it's still not enough. to hold the superhero brings new hope to down and out report on how a comic book strip is giving hundreds of financial one line. international news and comments live from moscow you will not see international with me you know thanks for joining us. there were daylight breaking through in syria peace talks international mediator. negotiations between the government and opposition are finally seeing some progress but at the same time washington says it's worried about new threats and managing from syria with terrorism being only one of them the u.s. national intelligence chief warned is still capable of produc

. >> bashar al-assad will not be part of that transition government. >> world leaders gathering to discuss ending syria's bloody civil war, and there are already disagreements on how to make peace. >>> chaos and death in the streets of kiev. crowds protesting the ukrainian government clashing once again with riot police. >>> and thousands effected by the cold weather from the midwest to the northeast. ♪ >>> tense moments this morning in montrow switzerland. they are in switzerland trying to hammer out a peace deal, but even the peace talks are anything by that. nick schifrin is in switzerland, the setting behind you almost portrays the gravity of the situation and the fireworks that happened earlier. tell us about them. >> yes, just a few feet from me, i saw a pro syrian government journalist, actually yelling at the opposition. we have seen competing rallies for and against president bashar al-assad, and inside the halls the diplomats themselves are just divided. on one side you have the united states supporting the syrian opposition, and they say that president bashar al-assad has to go.

. >>> leaders from the assad regime and syrian's opposition groups are meeting face-to-face today.ut in syria the fighting goes on. millions of refugees living outside of their cities in camps. many say they don't believe the peace conference will end the violence. nick schifrin is at the conference in switzerland. >> everybody has been talking about one thing here, trying to create a transitional government that all sides can agree on that will remove assad from power. but assad is not only dismissing the idea of stepping down, he is actually talking about running again for president. so what diplomats are talking about is small baby steps towards peace. perhaps prisoner exchanges, perhaps creating humanitarian corridors to try to get food, water, and the necessary supplies to millions of syrians who are without all of those basic necessities, and also localized peace treaties, trying to get some kind of truce in a small area and expand that into a city or region. but so far, del, what we have heard is not any of those specifics, willingness to go towards those steps and go toward