joining me now, laura haim and steve clemens, washington editor at large for the atlantic magazine andibutor. laura, what is the latest we know about this raid in belgium? >> what we know is that so far, according to our french sources, there's no connection between the belgium cell and what happened in paris last week. however, it's important to understand what is happening in belgium. belgium is a very important place for the french speaking foreign fighters. belgium, as you know, is a country where you can speak french, you can move easily, you can cross the border really easily with france and other countries. so it's a very, very important place, and you have a lot of radicalized preachers in belgium. the most radical preacher, the most radical french speaking preachers are there. so it has been really observed by the french authorities and by all the people who are fighting terrorism. >> we have some numbers, 16,000 people from 80 countries who have traveled to syria to fight with islamic extremist groups. 930 from france, 600 from the united kingdom, 550 from germany, 400 from b

it gives some very good clues as to the mind-set of these perpetrators. >> let's go to steve clemens. steve, good to have you with us. >> good to be with you guys. >> what is this signal a new type of warfare that we are going to be seeing possibly coming? what do you make of it? >> i think there has been a lot of discussion today about lone wolf attacks and why this isn't that. mikey kay went into great detail. he is a terrific analyst of what we saw unfold. as many people watching this they are looking at how clinical deliberate, confident and methodical this whole incident was. you worry it becomes a template for others. the biggest concern, this was a self-selected cell one that wasn't completely concerning to isis. you are seeing a capacity develop and metastasize here. that is very disconcerting. you have to analyze this look at it and look at how you pull the plug on this kind of activity. it is hard. you you don't know where they will hit or strike. paris is not, actually a non-secure city. it is a very secure city. >> what about social media? that, of course has played a big

thank you very much steve clemens. >> thanks joy. >> now i want to turn to lynn sweet, the washington bureau chief at "the chicago sun times." you have this interesting dilemma for democrats, who are also very have pro-israel but who now have this question of do they support the president, who's trying to make an historic deal with iran, or do they kind of go along with this move by john boehner? how do you think the democrats are going to fall on this snshissue? >> well, i think we know a lot of what's going on. just a few hours ago in the republican-led senate banking committee, joy, the main iran sanctions bill advanced but democrats demanded as part of their deal of going along of not having a vote until march 24th. let me just stress this. the objective is the same from the white house to congress. the objective is to make iran a non-nuclear power. they want to make sure that the country does not have the ability to threaten global security, especially israel. so the objective is the same. i think the politics are that the netanyahu visit is very provocative. he didn't -- speaker

bring in peter newman of kings college, and our friend and msnbc editor of large of the atlantic, steve clemens. steve, let's talk about one of the headlines out of these remarks from president obama. he was hammered again and again on iran policy being criticized for reluctance to impose sanctions. how is that going to be play out in politics? critical for democrats for being too soft on iran? >> i think it's going to be a confusing mess in congress. but what the president did is showed what a steady hand and how vested and informed he is in the iran activities. i tweeted out i was completely impressed with the level of detail he had and how steady he was and how confident he was in his call to congress to give him the two or three more months to keep them -- if you guys don't do this war will be on your watch, and you'll be responsible for it. and to preempt that he'll make his case to the american public. i thought he was impressive with that and david cameron really shored that up in his own opening remarks where he essentially preemptively said any sanctions activity here would completely

. >> joining me now is steve clemens, and msnbc contributor, steve the john kerry and the president gaveorma statements. what's going on backstage in washington, particularly now at the nsa. this is when those big silos of data, communication data, including french communication data that edward snowden revealed they're collecting could be valuable to the french pop i think you nailed it, lawrence. i can guarantee you behind the scenes, we are looking at every bit of associational intelligence that we can find on those that have been identified as the alleged killers in this. looking for every relationship they have, every phone call they've made, what they spent money on, where they've traveled to. and putting a map together of the digital profile of these individuals. i'm sure we're working with them. i mentioned when the minister of flans was here, he talked about france's concerns that they were seeing increased connections and efforts between different fragmented groups in africa and in europe to try to connect with isis. so that was an example of the kind of sharing that was alread

steve clemens is the editor at large of the atlantic. i want to talk about the politics in a moment. let's talk about the legal implications of what it means to be able to join the icc and israel. what is the significance of signing into that icc? >> it's very significant because what he has driven there are some of the behaviors seen during the recent gaza conflict. it's important to remember when barack obama was elected and came into office in early 2009 it was in the midst of another massive conflict of israeli action in gaza. it is the sense that there war crimes contained this that that abbas and palestinians are saying we need higher court and greater spotlight on the issues. that opens up palestinians particularly hamas to the same sort of accusations by the israeli public suffering from them. it will require them to fes up to the terror they have been responsible for. >> why haven't the palestinians joined them until now. # >> the united states is trying for many years, decades to get both sides to realize that their long-term s

steve clemens, we appreciate your time. >> that wraps up this hour of "weekend with alex witt." ve kornacki. i have a cold with terrible chest congestion. i better take something. theraflu severe cold doesn't treat chest congestion. really? new alka-seltzer plus day powder rushes relief to your worst cold symptoms plus chest congestion. [breath of relief] oh, what a relief it is. ring ring! progresso! i can't believe i'm eating bacon and rich creamy cheese before my sister's wedding well it's only 100 calories, so you'll be ready for that dress uh-huh... you don't love the dress? i love my sister... 40 flavors. 100 calories or less. >>> will he survive the scandal? >>> all right. good morning, thanks for getting up with this on this the first saturday of the year 2015. people waking up this morning to some tragic news but also in a way an incredible story out of kentucky. a 7-year-old girl not only surviving a plane crash last night she actually walked away from it. she showed up on the doorstep of a resident in the local woods nearby asking for help. the local police sergeant re

. >> steve clemens, thank you for joining us tonight. >> thank you, lawrence. >>> coming up next, livet from france on the search for the two suspects who are still at large. you wouldn't do half of your daily routine. so why treat your mouth any differently. brushing alone does less than half the job leaving behind millions of germs. complete the job with listerine®. kill up to 99 percent of germs. and prevent plaque, early gum disease and bad breath. complete the job with listerine®. power to your mouth™. also try listerine® floss. its advanced technology removes more plaque. >>> at this hour, police in france are looking for these two brothers as suspects in the terrorist attack in paris today. the latest on that search is next. >>> it's about four minutes away from 5:00 a.m. in france. a judicial official has confirmed to the associated press that the two suspects are still at large in the deadly attack at the offices of the french weekly "charlie hebdo." french authorities released photos of the two brothers 32-year-old cherif kouachi and 34-year-old said kouachi. both born in par

the editor at large steve clemens has been following this. does the u.s. have to get involved?vision that said if palestine takes and drags any israelis before the criminal court, the united states will no longer provide that $400 million in assistance. that is written into our law at the moment. there legal ways in which the president can get around it. we are in a train wreck course right now. >> it is a tough time for that. rarely is it not. we will watch to see how that comes to a head. pakistan is a suspected drone strike and killed nine militants right here. that's long been a stronghold of taliban activity and last month's school massacre brought a new level of focus on that area. that was an attack that killed 150 people most of them children. heart breaking. these u.s. air strikes were accompanied by pakistani strikes here. does that suggest that there was a positive narrative and uneasy relationship? >> i think pakistan has been the frenemy and ally we have had across the world. i think that the deaths have changed dramatically the needle and the acceptance for a u.s.

something that was consistent with what al qaeda groups had been trained to do previously. >> steve clemens, thank you very much. i want to bring back ambassador mark ginsburg former white house middle east policy adviser, and michael kay, now an international affairs correspondent. ambassador, i'm thinking about what steve was talking about. about how the influence of yemen and al qaeda. and, you know, after last year when we when we found out about the strength of isis ambassador, a lot of the feeling was, well isis is the new al qaeda, that they took the mantle from al qaeda, isis is even more extreme than al qaeda. so almost diminishing al qaeda's importance and impact. and yet we see that it's not the case. >> indeed, jose the united states' assassinated amman al awlaki who, as you'll recall was a u.s. citizen, from new mexico the and began mearabian peninsula. he recruited a number of persons from europe, apparently one of the brothers. and whether he was assassinated before or after he returned to france remains to be seen. that's conjecture. it's important to take into account that

. >> and joining us now from paris is contributor steve clemens and angela rye and hogan gidley. believe the presidential marks regarding international terrorism was under played? >> i think that this will surprise a lot of folks and i mean it as a compliment but i think last night president barack obama found his richard nixon. he was a realist and put a lot of things on the table. the possible strategic link with iran and moving with cuba and engaged with the allies with isis but not so overdeployed we take us down into another ground war like nixon getting out of vietnam, the president ending combat in iraq and afghanistan. and those criticizing him are sometimes thinking that being enmeshed in the ground and american power trapped and impotent is more leverage to the world and showing you can still shape the international system in positive ways so i was very impressed with the president last night and i think his critics are wrong. >> i want to stay with you for a moment, steve, because i had my list with the domestic policy pieces about the three things not mentioned last n

you know we're joined by steve clemens. is television the ability to see these things in action. watching the one at the kosher market. you see people racing out the door. you see what looked fb the gunman himself racing toward the police in an almost suicidal fashion, all living color. >> everything that happens is on social media. people reporting it. you may remember in the vietnam war, that the images of vietnam changed america. now the vietnam war, that kind of image it's around us every day. so there's been a desensization in certain ways. it's dramatic but we're getting used to it. >> you think big about these things and we all try to the implications of people who live in a country but feel themselves as aliens. it's the way their treated, the way their language and religion are different but who act as enemies of the state. whereas in this country, we have the odd situation of people who are not documented who feel very american, a lot of them from latin america. in that case people who were born in the country, wh

and joining us steve clemens, and linda sar sur.t with this characterization from ted cruz. certainly, we know people in our livers voluntarily wear the hij ab, is it fair to say that it is a statement of feminism or support for women around the world? >> absolutely not. as you can see, i wear it. it is a joyce for me to wear and cover my hair for religious observation and i consider myself to be a feminism and someone who supports the rights of all women. so this conversation we're having needs to be about not obsessing over michelle obama wearing or not wearing a head scarf which she is not required to do in a place like saudi arabia specifically in jebda. she was not a mosque so she was not required. so what about women who choose to wear hejab. and i'm proud of what i wear. >> and she wasn't in a mosque. she was a foreign dignitary visiting. and my understanding that not wearing the head scarf was not a breach of standards? >> absolutely not. it was not a breach. she was advised by the saudi and american side that she dressed mo

. >> i want to bring in steve clemens, washington editor at large for the atlantic.the french minister of defense. i want to ask you something about -- that mikey was saying about security. you and i have been in paris repeatedly. there is a former israeli ambassador to france former, 20 years ago, hasn't been an ambassador. there is security around his house. the embassy of iraq looks like a compound. everywhere you see, people that have in some way been representing countries -- >> train stations -- >> everything is culture protected -- >> embassies, fancy stores -- >> everything. and mikey has a good point. how is it these guys -- >> -- the thing that gets me with paris, it's densely saturated -- >> with cameras. >> with cameras, with police officers, with military in camouflage uniforms with attack weapons -- >> right and we don't know the time length of when this began -- >> that's a key question. >> you had an eyewitness or at least an earwitness who had a very long time. we don't know if that's correct or not. the point is this didn't seem to happen in seconds