we will host a debate between retired air force general charles wald, the former-deputy commander of u.s. european command, and university of chicago professor john mearsheimer. then to ferguson, six months after the police shooting of michael brown, more than a dozen st. louis-area residents have filed lawsuits accusing ferguson and a neighboring suburb of creating an illegal debtors prison scheme by targeting african americans with arrests and fines. all that and more, coming up. welcome to democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. president obama says he has not yet decided yet whether to send arms to the ukrainian military to fight russian-backed rebels. obama criticized russia's role in the conflict during a joint news conference at the white house with german chancellor angela merkel. >> unfortunately, russia has made a decision that i think is bad for them strategically, bad for europe, bad for the world. and in the face of this aggression in these bad decisions, we can't simply try to talk them out of it. we have to show them that the world

i'm join by charles wald retired four star general and former deputy commander of u.s.ne of eight former u.s. officials who wrote a report issue by brookings called on the u.s. to provide this kind of support to ukraine. general, thank you for taking the time to join. your report is fascinating, three recommendations, committing to $1 billion in military assistance this year alone, altering its policy to provide that lethal assistance to the eye crane yan military and approaching nato countries about providing similar support. what prompted such an emphatic case from you and the others behind this report? >> well thanks for having me. the report itself is a -- i think a manifestation of our concern that things are on the edge in the ukraine, probably worse than previously reported at least today's report was pretty accurate i think. in that russia basically as pointed out is supporting at the very least the where it called separatists but probably leading the conflict in ukraine and after an nexing to crimea which has de facto given up taken moreland land than ukraine.

charles stratford, al jazeera donetsk, eastern ukraine. >> joining us is retired general chuck wald, a team of military officers that put together an extensive report on how to preserve ukrainian independence calling on president obama to arm ukrainian forces. general good to have you with us. i've lost track as how many ceasefires and other agreements have been violated. some have only lasted hours. is there any reason to feel optimistic here? >> you always want to be optimistic and hope things can turn in a peaceful way. but i think we have to be pretty skeptical about whether the russians or the separatists are going to negotiate in good faith. >> talking about that crimea which russia took over seems to be off the table. russia is demanding full autonomy for the regions includingincluding allowing them to set their own economic policy. how can the ukrainians accept that? >> well, i don't think they want to accept that. i think they'd like to keep the integrity of their territory in shape. it's interesting that you mention crimea. that's hardly even talked about anymore. it's almo

parker-bowles, now his wife and the duchess of corn wald camilla is no longer as controversial as she used to be. the new book says she will reign with charlesnd be a power behind the thrown. >> you know what this means? there's no way the queen is leaving anytime soon. if she is unhappy with her son she will be here until 110. >> people, a lot of people like the queen and they are not sure about prince charles. i think a lot of people would like to see her stick around as soon as possible. >> prince charles has this dutch -- fair trade, biscuits, figgy pudding at christmastime. it comes in a little bowl. >> figgy pudding. >> he should focus on that. >> explain that to me. >> there is really figgy puding in the world. >> is there still monogamy in the world? >> i don't know. the guy who invicinitied the hashtag about monogamy has a unique on. >> why social media could mean multiple partners. you are ♪ >> i know they are wondering where are we going with this. >> this is your favorite music. >> can't stand sglit never seen you so uncomfortable. >> sitting next to my sister and they are playing sexy things. >> no doubt social media, right? >>

command general charles wald. they all served under both republican and democrat administrations. they released a nonpartisan report calling on president obama to provide ukraine with lethal weaponry -- this is what we're talking about in this bill -- and encourage other nato countries to do the same, and particularly those that possess and use former soviet equipment and weaponry to do the same. and finally on january 25 when president obama stated at a news conference in new delhi india that the aggression by the rebel separatists in eastern ukraine had russian backing russian equipment, russian financing russian training and russian troops finally even the president agrees to that. so this is not something that's debatable. it's not something that might be happening. it is something that is happening. and as you see the horrible things that are going on over there, you can see the reason that it's really necessary to get -- to get this done. some time ago -- this is back when carl levin was still in. he is retired. he served, did a great job as chairman of the senate armed serv