speaking of which i mentioned demonic zation of assad earlier and i think to some extent the assad government made it easier for the west to demonize him because of the use of these having a military force against communities where hardline islam is and other rebels to cold do iraqis or indeed americans if they choose to get involved. have any other like military alternatives other than using airstrikes and ground offenses that will most likely result in large civilian casualties well you're raising a very difficult question here i'm not a military expert but you know one can't help but compare the massacres that have taken place in the killing in syria to the killing in something like the american civil war where abraham lincoln presided over a civil war in which seven hundred thousand americans were killed in america the united states was thirty million people in eight hundred sixty at the time of the civil war syria's twenty four million so they're not very different in size in the united states seven hundred thousand americans were killed in our civil war almost sixty thousand prisoners w

isn't bashar al-assad's victory guaranteed. >> reporter: let's go over the reason why bashar al-assad's victory is guaranteed. the only people that can vote are people in areas controlled by the government. the only position leader said it would be an honour to come in second. and it's amidst the deadliest conflict of the 20th century. it's neither free nor fair. >> reporter: when syria votes, the only campaigner is bashar al-assad. the only way to declare allegiance is to cast in blood. they duetfuly selected the photo on the right. there were other positions. but before the election the opposition called bashar al-assad a strong leader deserving respect. he's described as a character in a political theatre, whose director is this man, and the family and aides that surround him. >> translation: today syria is returning to peace and security. rebuilding the country, including reconciliation. today the political solution shall begin. >> critics say it's stage managed to give bashar al-assad cover, to consider crushing the rebellion. for those not voting - had is the punishment. the oppos

i'm opponent assad so americans have been very eager to weaken assad the trouble is they thought that they could weaken assad and keep a syrian state causing some kind of political transition towards a democratic government we're seeing that that is not the choice it's not a choice between democracy and assad it's a choice increasingly between sunni rebel groups who are chaotic and becoming increasingly radical and and assad dictatorship and the more america weakens our side the more they're creating fertile ground for radical islamic groups well i agree with just the simple as that but you mentioned earlier this longstanding desire on the part of the american political establishment to hurt iran to hurt russia to hurt syria and obviously nowadays the the mood has somewhat changed you know now americans are calling for a corporation with the russians there is a possibility of cooperation with the iranians but from my experience of covering foreign policy i think americans can sometimes be very very opportunistic and i wonder how big would do you think would be the temptation for some

it's >> bashar al-assad can feel certain of victory. his relatively unknown challengers were approved by parliament packed with his supporters. >> we are joined in the studio by our middle east expert. how popular is bashar al-assad? can these elections bring a bit of stability to the country? >> well, the war would go on but definitely he is still very much appreciated by his followers, about 40% of the country that he controls but they are about 60% of the population. they're happy that in those territories under the control of the syrian army, a certain calm has been restored. people have lost any hope that the rebellion can really change things on the ground. bashar al-assad has assured that he will continue to be the leader and he will claim when he discusses with the west, well, i am the elected leader of my country, what you want? >> what can this tell us about how the tide of this civil war is going? where do things stand militarily? >> the forces of bashar al-assad have continuously grown over the past months and it is only the

rose bashar assad the brunt of this will be the target let alone the gone home. ok.right and that could be someone's life. that stops with this song. i don't. know. and i'm afraid this guy very professional you know whether it's you know. they can fire the us you know. this is hard. i wet never to tell you that but i hate that. can i send them well i'll put it over me. no no i'm not so happy they walked off you know i know what i said i know what i said no no no weapons i have my own microphone which i need by the way. ok you know let's please let's start let's start what. ok well i'm killing. here. but. you can't go outside you've been to every day to raise. all those says it doesn't take me you know someone who's your experience to become a real fighter. and weeks training and you even for a life time of obedience the growth over your rules for those who want to become one jockey dean you have to forget about money and be ready to die or to be arrested and to accept that no one will take care of you or your family let you how the flags on the walls weapons on the f

but both expressed their support for assad. people were only able to cast their ballots in the areas that assad's regime controls. syria is in the midst of a civil war that has killed 160,000 people over the last three years. it has caused millions of people to fwlee from their homes. critics say assad is using this election as a platform to send out a strong message that he is the only legitimate ruler. away from the campaign and in the refugee camps like this one in lebanon, people are desperate. the constant fighting has forced about 100 syrians here. this woman left her home last july with her husband and their four children. her brother was killed in attacks by assad forces. she fears that with assad in power any hope of rebuilding syria will be crushed. >> translator: this election is a farce. only those who support assad will get richer. assad won't allow his oppositions to even take one breath. >> reporter: after the election, another seven-year term will start for the president. but millions who have crossed the border

unfortunately, one of those authorities was a cousin of the assad. while he removed him, he didn't punish him in any way. the recommending e-mails then resort to force, escalated to where the opinion stilt, which had started very peacefully, gang to shoot back, really in self defense. as i look back on the last couple of years, there was a time, i think, where the extremist element that is very present in syria now. right? i want to be clear about that. there is an extremist element in the opposition. but it wasn't there right at the beginning. it is a wasn't very strong right at the beginning. there was a competition between the more moderate let's and the more extreme elements. the moderate elements, frankly were not well-if you wanted. the extremist elements had financing from different parts of the region, from the gulf, from europe. the mod rants didn't have that. they couldn't recruit. when you are talking about a civil war, when you are talking about groups forming, it's about recruitment. extremists, unfortunately, were much better at recruit

i think assad has survived, and assad will be with us for a while, unfortunately. and the reality is that the opposition is divided. it's not enough to criticize the election. but does he have the operatio the u.n. have a strategy. many american, part of the elite are saying, look, we should talk to assad. he's not going anywhere. plus we should deal with assad to deal with the jihadist threat. whether it's the el nusra front or others, they are now as important of a threat in the eyes of the western leaders as assad himself. >> how key is the situation in russia and ukraine. we could see that russia and china are not budging in the security council, does it make it difficult to know that russia was never going to be on board. >> absolutely. it has aggravated the u.s.-russia. russia has used four vetoes in the council in order to support assad. russia is sending observers to syria to observe the election. that's why the question about syria is will the united states and russia, will the regional powers find a way out. it's no longer an internal fight. it's regional

rule for seven years and broadcast pictures of assad and wife casting votes at a polling station incus and votes can be cast in government-controlled areas and opposition and western leaders and rebels in syria dismissed the election as a sham. but it is the first time in more than half a century syrians have been offered a voice of candidates and bashar assad is running against to unknown challengers and apparelment dominated by supporters, he is a former communist party member and supports the military campaign against opposition forces and the other candidate is someone who served in government's before and wants reconciliation and to rebuild the infrastructure and supports the fight against rebels. let's go live now to the border crossing in the beka valley and the border of course between lebanon and syria and we can see behind you ruler the cue of syrians trying to get back in the country so they can cast their vote. >> yes, over there you can see people who are trying to cross the border and over here you can see the syrians who have already voted. since the morning, since 8:

president assad does have general support.have weathered everything he went through since war started without that support. they buy those arguments. as far as the president's concerned, this is good politics. >> jeremy bow enin the syrian capital. stay with us. much more to come. we'll hear from the cofounder of wikipedia jimmy wales as he takes up a new role as an advisor to google. 3 million lines of code, 40,000 sets of eyes, or a million sleepless nights. whether it's building the world's most advanced satellite, the space station, or the next leap in unmanned systems. at boeing, one thing never changes. our passion to make it real. ♪ still running in the morning? yeah. getting your vegetables every day? when i can. [ bop ] [ male announcer ] could've had a v8. two full servings of vegetables for only 50 delicious calories. >>> this is bbc world news. i'm geeta guru-murthy with the top stories this hour for you. president al-assad casted his vote in the election expected to give him third term in office a. >>> president o

the civil war in their country there's no denying the assad government has a very large popular base not necessarily because everybody loves bashar al assad or wants the political system to be unreformed but they see the stark choice between those who are promoting civil war in their country have taken as a consequence of civil war hundreds of thousands or one hundred thousand plus lives and those who are funding in arming and financing the civil war from abroad and who are doing so not really because they want democracy but they have their own sordid interest in terms of creating a proxy government in syria i think it's an important step civil wars aren't ended by elections but this is a sign that the assad government does have considerable public popular support. israel's medical community is defying the prime minister over the force feeding prisoners palestinian inmates are starving themselves are being held without charge in israeli prisons for months or even years online we tell you about why doctors are taking a stand also. scientists in california have put their minds to a tec

she was to how happy be voting for president assad. denouncedat has been as a sham by his opponents at home and abroad. oftain called it a parody democracy. for all the savage criticism, it is important to remember that president assad does have some genuine support. they have started chanting outside. have succeeded this far in that war without that support. >> a message from bashar al-assad is that only he can keep them safe from al qaeda style rebels and save syria. he voted with his wife, who grew up in london. in the parts of syria controlled by rebels, the election was ridiculed as well as condemned. this was a mock ballot. in aleppo, this artist said he would turn rubbish skids into ballot boxes. there is no voting in rebel held areas. in damascus am aware that presidents personality grows, one of the opposition groups that are tolerated here also refused to take part. resultink it is the in of the democratic process. >> so you don't have democracy now? >> of course not. outside damascus, the syrian army is back in control of th

assad needs to go.needs to transfer power to a transitional body. that is the only way that we're going to resolve this crisis. >> woodruff: last year, the president did threaten military strikes, forcing the regime to give up its chemical weapons. but the u.s. has balked at giving heavy arms to the rebels, in part because islamist militants have taken a lead role on the battlefield. just last week, in his west point commencement address, the president recommitted to aiding the opposition, without giving any details. >> i will work with congress to ramp up support for those in the syrian opposition who offer the best alternative to terrorists and brutal dictators. and we will continue to coordinate with our friends and allies in europe and the arab world to push for a political resolution of this crisis. >> woodruff: one key figure in the administration's syria policy over the past few years has been ambassador robert ford. the career diplomat was installed in damascus just ahead of the uprising, and dr

the uprising against bashar al-assad began in march 2011.ce then the number of people fleeing the country reached nearly 3 million. lebanon hosts the largest number with more than 1 million, followed by turkey, jordan, iraq and egypt. the scale is overwhelming many counties. as nick schifrin discovered on a trip to the syrian-lebanon border, the will has not been taken away to fight. >> reporter: after three years of war few survivors have escaped without injury - many marked for life. in syria this man was a farmer, walking through his fooled and -- field and hit by an air strict. he woke up wounds to his leg and pride. >> translation: i think how i was and how i am. how i used to work, how now i can hardly pick anything up. >> the war made it nearly impossible to find a working hospital in syria. lebanese hospitals can't cope with the influx. they are evacuated to clinics in lebanon. this is on top of a mosque, two miles from the bodder. nearly everyone here loft -- from the border. nearly everyone has lost a limb or like this man is paral

form of bashar al assad i think it's a problem of lack of political consensus on how to go forward and this is a debate that we have in the united states quite often about how to go forward in syria and by the way many of the points that you made about iraq are points that many americans make about iraq every day so we have a rather strong debate on this issue and my own view on the syria question and space specifically on the isis issue is that we need a kind of political way forward once it is a den of five what syria is going to be is it going to be a federated state is are going to be you know a state in which. senior leaders take turns is there going to be a national minorities veto i mean what kind of political arrangements there are then i think we can get behind this and a den of those who might be described as rejectionists well ambassador here are unfortunately those debates continue but the outcome of this debate sam how is always this same chaos and bloodshed well for the time big we have to take a very short break but when we come back to case they or should he go does the

regime if not assad himself. west in a number of surrounding states supporting one or another faction within the opposition that there has to be some agreement in particularly some agreement between russia and the united states about this issue and i think president obama and john kerry are open to further the go shading a situation that will allow the syrian people to decide who their president will be but under a real national election well. obviously we will be looking forward to to see it to wait and see whether the american affairs. israel indeed glad the syrians decide on their own fate but for the time being we have to leave it there i really appreciate here being on the show i appreciate your. spirit and the very kind of conversation and thank you to our viewers feel free to join these debate on our twitter you tube and facebook pages and i hope to see you again same place same time here on the part of the. greatest nations emphasize with palestinians putting millions into helping the provisional. engagin

to step down do you see any connection between that policy stance you know calling on assad to step down on the growth of isis and other terror groups in the region no but let me explain my views on that my own personal view was asking someone to step down in the absence of a den of five a kind of political way forward is not the way i would do it i think what we need to do is a den of along with some other countries and i again i would include russia in this a way forward for how syria can be governed in the future because it's clear the kind of narrow basis on which assad was governing that is on the basis of an alawite. fellow tribesman and then a few of others was not sufficient so clearly there needs to be kind of an international plan on the way forward what i'm suggesting is we need a kind of bosnia type solution and then we can figure out who can be a part of that future and who should not be well i think some people would suggest that both is almost a failed state by by now but ambassador hill if i could again go back to. isis i think you've been very diplomatic in trying n

a very strong leader and he said, quote, you have to respect what assad is doing.o this is the first time in 40 years, michael, where you have had actual somebody -- people running against assad or his father, that's really only a shift on paper. now, secretary of state john carey put itkerry put it, it's a theater. >> that's why so many people are calling this election a as far as. nick schifrin reporting live in lebanon. >>> voters in eight states today will pick their candidates for governor, senate and house races. results in mississippi, alabama, wyoming, montana, new jersey, new mexico and san diego. wilsan diego san diego will help determine in republican can gain the majority in the senate jerry brown is in a race for a fourth term. if you like bacon, listen up. farmers are dealing with a piglet virus and it's causing pork prices to surge. ♪ ♪ >>> pig farmers in the u.s. are struggle to go cope with a virus that's killed millions of animals in the past year. its taken a toll on farmers who are seeing more piglets die each other. for consumers it means payin

anti-assad.obody is perfect. >> jon: in fact i am voting for him. for more we are joined by our new correspondent in syria michael che. michael che, thank for joining us. [cheers and applause] >> jon: this is so exciting. your first day at the show. this is great. your first day at the show. first assignment is to go to syria. that's [beep]. >> jon, standing here in the ruins of this once proud city makes it clear the future of syria won't be decided at the ballot box. the syrians are worried if the towns will be over run by assad forces or militants. there lies the bitter irany of this so called free and fairy election. guns and shells hold the real power here. i'm alaypo i'm michael che. hrauf[laughing] >> you like that, jon? first day. >> jon: ya, i saw that. >> nailed it boom. i [beep], killed it, killed it! >> jon: amazing. michael, i have to tell you i have been here 15 years. i can't believe we have a correspondent who understands the complexity of the syrian -- >> what the [beep] is going

looks ---assad reelection looks to be all the foregone conclusion. ♪ >> also coming up for you this hourtom cruise makes a new record, screening his movie in three countries in just one day. we will get the latest from the paris premiere of "edge of tomor row." and this friday marks the 70th anniversary of d-day but this day some history buffs will be commemorating the anniversary underwater. footage of the wreckage of some of the votes that brought allied troops onto the normandy beaches. but first, barack obama has thrown his weight behind the u.s. commitment to its nato allies. the u.s. president's speech in warsaw was a show of solidarity with eastern european nations. after russia's intervention in the ukraine. todayave come to warsaw on behalf of the united states, on behalf of the nato alliance, -- reaffirm our commitment to poland security. article five is clear, an attack all, and an attack on we have a binding obligation to defend your territorial integrity and we will. we stand together, now and forever, for your freedom is hours. poland will never stand alone. -- ours. poland

they waved portraits of assad and fired shots into the air. lucy is standing by in beirut. has been met with much derision at home and abroad for the syrian president. >> the reaction to this is very much been along the lines that you would expect. divisions over serious are well drawn both at home and abroad. john kerry is calling it a great big zero, the election. this is roundly criticized a few hours ago by the russian foreign ministry spokesman who said it was unacceptable to simply ignore the opinions of millions of syrians. are very muches drawn down the middle. andthe syrian opposition the syrian coalition called this a sham. it said that the struggle will continue for freedom and democracy and urged the united states and other countries to support mainstream rebels. but within syria itself, much division. people in the pro-government areas are the only ones who are able to vote. the areas that have fallen out of government control, the people there are highly critical of these elections. the tensions on the ground are only intensified by this election. >> the outco

the uprising against bashar al-assad began in march 2011.ince then the number fleeing the country reached nearly 3 million. lebanon hosts more than 1 million, followed by turkey, jordan, iraq and egypt. the scale of the crisis is overwhelming many of the counties. as nick schifrin discovered on a trip to the syrian-lebanon border wound have not taken away the flight. >> reporter: after a few years of brutal war few have survived without injury. many are marked for life. in syria that man was a farmer. he was walking through his field when hit by an air strike. he woke up in this bed, wounds to his leg and pry. >> translation: i think i was and how i am today. how i used it work and how now i can hardly pick anything up. >> the war made it impossible to find a working hospital in syria. lebanese hospitals can't cope with the influx. they evacuated clinics in lebanon. this is built on a mosque. everyone here lost a limb or is paralyzed below the waste. >> osama carries the jihadi video on the cell phone. showing him carrying rocket-propelled g

time, assad's government fell apart, extremists came in and took advantage of the sentiment against assad to build their own capacity and now they've turned on iraq. if they are successful and holding on to what they've puts a it terrorist-based government at the very heart of this region, very sensitive region for the world economy, and it a launching pad against americans and american interests worldwide. >> if you were watching this program in little rock, wouldas, for example, you say to viewers there that what theappening at the moment, sweep across northern iraq, has the potential to directly affect them? >> that's exactly right, it does. because what we've tried to do is stabilize the region. trying to do is destabilize the region. be first impact is likely to felt is a tremor in the price of oil but that's not the far reaching impact. the far reaching impact is that there will be an opportunity for terrorists to build a real terrorist infrastructure ananced by oil, occupying state and what we said in the united states is we'll never permit this again. won't permit something like a

assad is throwing barrel bombs. there are children who don't have leaves left from the trees to eat and are starved to death. let alone the gas, the cities, entire destruction of the most vibrant parts of the area where the society used to live hundreds of centuries before assad came in power. >> thank you for joining us in power. >> thank you for having me. >> for more on the elections, go to the website. plenty more information. find out what the world has to say about the polls as well. >>> a visit to poland, president obama is unveiling a $1 billion plan to strengthen the military presence in europe. in the opening remarks, president obama described america's commitment to the region as sacrosanct. >> we've begun with additional troops and aircraft into poland. this is going to help our forces to train together. it's going to help our forces support nato air missions. it's also part of nato's stepped up presence across central and eastern europe. >> president obama speaking in warsaw moments ago. let's discuss t

, we get in bed with assad. if we get in bed with iran, we get in bed with iran. >> i don't share that perspective. i think that iran is the foremost supporter of assad. they have been flying arms through iraqi airspace, they have their personnel there, and i think that's unlikely to change. i think given the atrocities in syria i don't think the americans will find they can make an accommodation with assad that's constant with their values and we're either supportive of the moderate position or not. i'm more supportive of the administration's declarative policy. i'm for support offof working with iran than iraq. iran will mobilize shiite militias, they did it before against american troops. i think the dangerous is the sectarian militias iran is mobilizing, instead of a conflict between insurnlt organization and the government of iraq, it may very well become what dexter covered when he was at the "new york times" the sectarian war between the shia militias and sunni insurgents, and iran's intervention could le

never. >> this does not seem to a phase a side. -- to phase assad. he has retaken many rebel held areas. the regime's weapons include a mixture of gas and explosives banned under international law. the military dumps them on to residential areas. >> writes, a world cup winner. he won the unjustly got three times as a player and her team times -- he won the bundesliga three times as a player and 13 times with his organization. >> uli hoeness. convicted for dodging taxes earlier this year. >> he was sentenced to three and a half years. >> the media gathered, hoping to get a glimpse of a millionaire going to what is normally a poor man's jail. he will start his term in a 2-man cell. like all men made, hoeness will have to win at -- have to wear a risen uniform. he will be woken in his cell at 9:00 a.m. his application to be moved to another prison because of the intense media attention was turned down. at his last outlook appearance a few weeks ago, a defiant hoeness said he expected to resume work at bayer munich as soon as his sentence is served. he c

>> rose: assad. >> assad, right. so that's one of the reasons this makes this so difficult.roblem is, if assad wins, right, we fix the al-qaeda problem. but iran is the big winner. if awe sunday loses. >> rose: hezbollah and iran are the big winners. >> if assad loses then we've got this mess in syria. >> rose: may take over syria. >> we've got a mess in syria, it may break apart and they have a safe heron. the big losers are iran and hezbollah but we're also big losers right because of the potential for spillover and save haven. it's a mess. >> rose: let me put this on the table. it's not our problem. it's too complicated. we can't make this work. whatever mistakes have been made have beenyou guys fight it out. >> so i would say two things to that. one is, one is that, one of our best allies on the planet is in the middle. that's a strategy interest in the united states and a political interest. 70-80% of the american public sports the state of israel. we believe our relationship with israel should be stronger so we've got to worry about israel. the second is the spare capa

ricks, that bashar al-assad will win. there's a joke among loyalist communities saying we know the results. it will be 70% for bashar al-assad, and the other two candidates will get 15% each. >>> there are talks that rebuilding factors, a reconstruction tax. is it too early to talk about rebuilding. >> very much so. i mean, i was in the area a couple of days ago. it's impossible to think how it will be rebuilt. i'm talking about blocks upon blocks. 10, 15. as far as the eye can see, a rebel. five, seven, 10 storey blocs that are collapsed with nothing salvageable. there's no talk. where money for restriction will come from. it will be a huge project. people are still - a lot of people are still missing. a lot of people - they've been killed, displaced. a lot of syrians are worried right now about sectarian tensions and wondering how they'll live together again. >> difficult time for so many. our syrian contributor. thank you for joining us. >> thank you. >>> still ahead on al jazeera america - he got his start making vodk

why assad's victory is guaranteed. number one, the only people who could vote are living in areas controlled by the government. number two, the opposition candidates, if you can call them that, neither of them are known at all. one of them said that they would be honored to come in second. number three, well, this vote is being held during one of the deadliest conflicts of the 21st century. when syria votes, the only panning seen is from bashar al-assad. the symbolically cast their ballots in blood. there were other options. >> today syria is returning to peace and security. start to go rebuild the country and comprehensive reconciliation. >> reporter: critics say this is all stage managed to give assad cover to continue crushing the rebellion. for those not voting, this is their punishment. this morning the opposition says the government bombed this area just outside of damascus. [ explosion ] more than half of this country is not voting and is at war. one out of three syrians no longer live in their own homes, and ev

before bashar al assad on a p.r. level may be winning the argument, but on the ground, they're going to be stronger in fighting him. >> there's much more to come here on the aljazeera news hour. on the trail of south korea's most wanted man, police step up the search for the billionaire connected to april's ferry disaster. >> find out why locals call this place the silicone valley. >> preparing for the world cup kickoff against croatia. >> a fourth woman has been found hanging from a tree in india. the family of the 19-year-old says she was raped. three others were found in similar circumstances in the last two weeks. police are investigating claims they were victims of sexual violence. let's cross over to the capitol of new delhi. >> you just mentioned a fourth. there was a third that came to light on tuesday. these two most recent cases, not much being said about them by the local authorities, keeping in mind kite a lot of sensitivity to them given that the last few weeks, so until they've got definitive answers on