. >> rose: lakhdar brahimi is here n august he replaced kofi annan as u.s. enjoy to syria, one of the most experienced diplomats in the world. he's deeply familiar with arab affairs. during the 198 0s he was undersecretary general of arab league. in the 1990s he served as algeria's foreign minister. after that he was special envoy to afghanistan and then to iraq post saddal hussein. when he became envoy to syria earlier this year he described his mission as quote nearly impossible. he is in new york this week to report to the united nations and security council on that mission and on the situation in syria. i'm pleased to have him back at this table, welcome. >> thank you very much. >> rose: you must be exhausted. >> i'm all right. >> rose: what will you say to the united nations. >> you know what, i'm going to tell them what i have been saying all along about the situation in syria is extremely bad. and dangerous. and getting worse. until now nobody has found a way of bringing it under control. we know that this is part of the arab spring. we know that chan

was working on a plan. -- than when kofi annan was working on a plan. i would like to see him indicted at the hague. it is impossible for him to have impunity for the atrocities that were carried out there. >> back in the back. >> hello, i am from the world affairs council of new hampshire. i have a question about citizens knowing about the different cultures and government practices in each country. being a student, i talked to a lot of people from the middle east, and they told me that they do not understand how the government works in the u.s. and vice versa. >> i think that could be said about a lot of americans who do not know how the government works. >> the world is now learning about the electoral college and is as confused as most americans. >> i can tell you i just returned from one week of lecturing in saudi arabia, and the subject of all of my lectures across the country with the exception of one were about our elections. there was tremendous in strip -- interest in that. i think it is true. if you look at the media here, for several days, a

secretary-gener kofi annan, have begun to campaign for low-priced drugs to treat the infected.otential benefits are immense. drugs will slow the transmission of the disease. drugs will prevent deaths and help to preserve the labor force. and drugs mean that a generation of children will not grow up as orphans. ( playing upbeat tune ) if the anti-aids campaign in africa succeeds, it could be an inspiration to fighting other diseases that have long denied the people of africa an opportunity to reach their full potential. ( man singing upbeat tune in local language ) ( singing in local language ) narrator: in the developing world, infectious diseases are responsible for almost half of all deaths. the most prevalent: malaria, tuberculosis and hiv/aids. the highest concentration of hiv/aids is in africa, home to 13% of the world's population, but nearly 70% of all aids cases. medical geography provides greater understanding of disease diffusion through space and time. in kenya, weee h human migration to urban areas of disease diffusion promotes further transmission and proliferation

are doing and this is the reason why for instance kofi annan had to abandon the the mission he said if you want to change the regime go and do it if you want to me to stop the killing don't stop pouring the patrol on the fire this is what the little brahimi is facing you know and the second attempt to try and stop the killing there but i think the western nations they are talking one way and acting in another way but i think what is amazing it what happened yesterday when the secretary of state of the usa has dramatically changed its position from its one hundred eighty degree turn when they suddenly when they were pushing all the world to recognize the council as the to estimate the only one which represents the syrian people now they decided it doesn't simply because they say that they have realized that most of the people have been living outside we all know but i'm going to you and see them and all the others how do you not mean just simply for the last thirty forty years the u.s. knew this if we people ordinary people know that the u.s. with all its abilities certainly should have

are doing and this is the reason why for instance kofi annan under the the mission he said if you want to change the regime go and do it if you want to me to stop the killing then stop putting the patrol on the fire this is what that little brahimi is facing now and the second term to try and stop the killing but i think the western nations they are talking one way and acting in another way but i think what is amazing if when the secretary of state of the usa has dramatically changed its position when they were pushing all the world to recognize the council as the the estimate the only one which represents the syrian people now they've decided it doesn't but i think now they're changing the rules of the game britain's deputy prime minister is warning rebel lawmakers they could only britain isolated within the e.u. conservative m.p.'s who are in the governing coalition sided with the opposition and defying prime minister david cameron by voting for cuts to the money britain hands over the brussels every year parties laura smith explains with the cloud hanging over the houses of parliame

you don't think he would come back and run again with more gray hair and more trustworthy like kofi annanf and become emporer of europe. and 52% less, although the left won't see it that way, reelected obama makes us moreses and recognized he was born among us to forgive our sins. eva longoria can run for senate and get off twitter. if she promises health care, she could be president. >> four, watch president obama become more conservative. malia turns 18. he'll call myth and see if his grandsons are of age. and the same dog, best way to hide a canine diet, eat the same dog over and over again, what's she doing to jasper. >> don't you think i'm right, eric, that it's good that he got reelected you knew he was going to run again anyway. >> a couple of groups that could be happy he's reelected. illegals will be happy amnesty the second term no question about it. no one has talked about, i think this is going to happen in the second term. i think he's going to get up an infrastructure bank and set it up. billions and billions, taxpayers dollars to it and the unions are the ones who are going

it features alicia keys, george clooney, ringo starr, kofi annan and so many more. thank you for getting me on the show. >> the music is so uplifting, but the message is so powerful. you bring these two together, why and how? >> well, for this album, it was more about celebration but at the same time not forgetting the history but that's what i focused on. so i wanted to be some of the songs i had, some love songs also on the album. that's what i was focusing. >> your history is heartbreaking, but you're very open about sharing it in the spoken word and your music becoming a child soldier and feeling real conflicted later on. at the time you really felt like you wanted revenge, revenge of all muslims and arabs who killed your family members in sudan when you were a child. how long were you a child soldier before some intervention, something happened and it changed your thinking and your ways? >> well, i was trained when i was 8. so 1992. i think four years. four years. living being a child soldier but now cutting it with you in your head politics another more years.

. >> and have, you know, like kofi annan and mary hart do it and leave me alone. [ laughter ] >> jimmys more than 200 countries. and there are great moments. you know, muhammad ali lighting the torch in 1996. >> jimmy: yep. >> it was tremendous this year, when daniel craig and the queen did their "james bond" bit. that was great. but when you've got 200-plus countries marching in -- >> jimmy: you run out. >> and you have to have a note on each of them -- "did you know that butch cassidy and the sundance kid met their doom in bolivia?" [ laughter ] that's my bolivia note. >> jimmy: i mean, come on. that's, like, painful. >> yeah. you're telling me. >> jimmy: that is torture to do to somebody. i got to talk about "football night in america." this is huge for us. >> mm-hmm. >> jimmy: big. am i right? has this never been on nbc primetime? >> in primetime, no. we used to have -- back in the '80s and '90s, we'd have a thanksgiving day game in the afternoon. but this is the first time there's been a thanksgiving night game on nbc. >> jimmy: wow. this is going to be big. and it's the patriots

the administration is doing the right thing over the spring and into the summer, trying to use kofi annan and the united nations to broker a transition. this was the only possible way to deal with the day after problem. what did syria look like after this. the only way was to come up with a transition agreement which included representatives of the current regime and of the opposition and got rid of bashar al-assad and established a timeline -- a six-point plan towards negotiating transitions. it was the right thing to do, but it failed. now we are in a situation where there is almost no -- right now but right now there is no prospect for political ricin. that means we have seen this rapid descent to armed insurgency and also war. that is why i am extremely pessimistic. i just don't see any limited way that the u.s. tip the balance. no-fly zone, doesn't solve the problem, and absolutely nobody wants u.s. troops on the ground. so there you are. >> on that note, let's take our first question. >> apparently there are the beginnings of some discussions about things out of the country. who wou

think the administration is doing the right thing over the spring and into the summertime to use kofi annan and the united nations to broker a political transition in the only possible way to get to deal with the day after problem. what does syria look like after assad goes? the only way was to come up with some kind of political transition agreement which included, which included representatives of the current regime and representatives of the opposition and got rid of assad and established a timeline of the transition, a six-point plan to move towards negotiating the transition. that failed. it was the right thing to do but it failed and now we are in a situation where there's almost no -- the u.n. representative out there is trying but right now there is no prospect for the political horizon and that means that we have seen this rapid descent into armed insurgency and war and that is why i am extremely pessimistic. but i don't think anything. >> make sure it's to stable ceria. >> i just don't see any limited way that the u.s. can tip the balance. simply arming the insurgents just fuels t

george bondi was charged by kofi annan to lead the group to see if someone could establish somethingimilar, and this report has not been very much observed. but i think there we have a deal for iran because that will give real -- [inaudible] to inspections, it will give the right to the international community to go where there is concern, not where iran is declaring. and, but to pay for that is lift sanctions. and certainly gradually lift. you don't need to do it in -- [inaudible] and then we can have so to say -- [inaudible] let the regime change. let the iranian people to take care of it. it's not for the outside to do the regime change. >> thank you. we'll take a question or two from the reporters in the front row, and then we'll go to questions from the audience. if you could just identify yourself and direct your question to a particular person. >> sure. barbara slaven from the atlantic council. jim, i want to get you to talk a little bit more about what would not be small bore, because the conventional wisdom has been that if you can resolve the 20 president issue that calms t

involved with in this effort do not have the objective of implementing the geneva agreement that kofi annanegotiated, trying to negotiate this with parts of the regime, and have some kind of modulated transition. they are engaged in a process whose logic is you strengthen the opposition so that militarily they can defeat the regime, and at some point the u.s. has to choose which side is more on. the arabs bring or the arab uprising. we say we are on the right side of history, and in saying that -- it is not an expression i am a huge fan of -- the notion that is conveyed is we support democratic transitions and we are on the side of the people, but is that true the choice we have made let's look at what happened, what is happening in bahrain today, which side of history we are. on which side of history would we be a saudi arabia were to experience a real pricing? at some point we may have to choose. we did not have all those difficult choices with the exception of bahrain in the first obama administration. it is not a wild guess to say that one of these relations will -- one of these nations

kofi annan brought a great to benefit to this american approach in 1700. now we have this mission. faribault's doomed to failure. the remote. >> all right. we have run out of time. obviously we made a crack any way in getting a better understanding of what is going on. it's only fair to say, you said yesterday, to see in paris right now. he's basically tell his students that everything that happens of the next few months will be studied for many, many years. all the main players are facing tests right now. civilians a dying. the power balance is shifting under our feed and no one knows where it will end up. thank you for your time, your contribution. [applause] >> in a few moments senate leaders harry reid and mitch mcconnell on a possible change to set rules regarding the filibuster. forty-five minutes chief justice john roberts and the supreme court and constitutional law. after that, part of our coverage of the halifax international security forum, including a look at the u.s. role in global politics and the situation in syria. several live events tell you about tomorrow morning

kofi annan. i say javier perez was the coolest name of any u.n. love the last name. >> john: however moon has called for a cease-fire. >> my message is clear. all sides must stop fight immediately. further escalating the situation will put the entire regime at risk. >> john: do we have more from moon? >> once again families and children are dying because of these senseless firings. once again palestinians and israelis live in the fear of the next strike. this must be stop. >> john: again palestine israel if jehovah or allah wanted anybody dead, he would smite them himself. i say this because yesterday in the course of our interview with joe cirincione, i talked about how palestine -- how hamas is a terror organization. but they were democratically elected. this led to us getting iconic status in right wing troll news busters. if you're going to take out trolls, you go for the nest. they ran a whole thing about how pro terrorist i am because i pointed out two facts. one that hamas was democratically elected. two that they're a terrorist organizatio

secretary-general kofi annan.ption." >> get busy living or busy dying. >> reporter: turns out a lot of celebrities look alike, ugly betty won "american idol" or will farrell plays drums for the red hot chili peppers and sometimes people resemble regular folk. >> some people say i look like ashton kutcher. >> nao is that a compliment? . >> i tell him that he looks like picasso. >> reporter: do people could many up a ask you for your autograph all the time? >> actually ask me for my art. >> i got snooki the other day at lunch. >> reporter: if the lighting were different. let's dig deeper into doppelgangers. kenny gee with his sax and his twin, weird al jankovich jams to a slightly different tune and doppelgangers span the century. in the midst of civil war one man kept our country together. bill nye the science guy, naturally this really upset confederate soldier nicolas cage, but why and more importantly how does this happen? for the answer we turn to science. >> the estimate is that there's about 200 genes that ac

kofi annan brought a great to benefit to this american approach in 1700. now we have this mission. faribault's doomed to failure. the remote. >> all right. we have run out of time. obviously we made a crack any way in getting a better understanding of what is going on. it's only fair to say, you said yesterday, to see in paris right now. he's basically tell his students that everything that happens of the next few months will be studied for many, many years. all the main players are facing tests right now. civilians a dying. the power balance is shifting under our feed and no one knows where it will end up. thank you for your time, your contribution.