Transcripts For ALJAZAM Real Money With Ali Velshi 20141118

Transporting oil by pipeline. With the keystone xl controversy coming to a head. Ill tell you why canada is so concerned about the risk of disastrous spills, i am ali velshi and this is real money. Cold war, global tensions with russia from the arctic ocean to the south pacific. Beginning tonight i will take you on a journey that illustrates how the wests confrontation with our a is spreading far beyond ukraine, just in the last few days, western leaders ganged up on russian president Vladimir Putin during a summit of the group of 20 nations, president obama and David Cameron both warns of a, quote, frozen conflict created by russia in Eastern Ukraine. Canadas Prime Minister Stephen Harper was even blunter telling putin, quote, you need to get out of the ukraine. European Union Foreign ministers met today in brussels to debate new sanctions against russia. But talk of cutting europes energy trade with russia, which supplies one quarter of the even e. U. s natural gas needs still not on the table. Despite russias expulsions of german and polish diplomats from moscow in response to similar moves by those countries against russian diplomats. So tonight we start our weeklong series called the new cold war. Ill take tout frontlines of nato estates like states like pole around, romania, bull bulgaria and then north to the Arctic Circle where they are competing for the Natural Resource with his a brandnew surgery. We begin that report right now with tonights report. Its 10 00 a. M. On an autumn morning in trans vein ya. More than a thousand romanian soldiers are engaged in war games under the guidance of hundreds of u. S. Marines. Its a routine nato exercise. Demonstrations of force like this have take own a new urgency for the west. Here, besides the ca carpathian mountains in romania, these soldiers are training for battle. Respond. Just a sevenhour drive from ukraine, where russianbacked separatists set off the worst confrontation between moscow and the west since the end of the cold war. Romanians and other Eastern Europeans who remember russias past aggressions are worried about the wests ability and willingness to stop an emboldened russian president Vladimir Putin. A new cold war is a reality. Now we live in a knew cold war. But its a dang fore real war. Not everyone shares his fears that moscow and the west are bounds for armed conflict. Yet an escalating military presence on both sides has left little room for error. In october nato scrambled dozens of f16s when russia launched an unusually large number of combat aircraft near nato air space. Nearly two dozen russian bombers and fighters swooped over the north sea. The black sea, the gulf of finland, and the baltic sea. That intercept was captured here on neverbeforeseen video recently declassified by the norwegian military. It shows russias newest fighter jet, the su34, which can travel more than 2500 miles carrying a payload of eighttons of precision guided weapons. Events like this happen more than 100 times in 2014. Three times more than in 2013. Essentially what it is is the cat and mouse game played during the original cold war where each side probes the defenses of other the in order to see how they will react. That game is putting more pressure on nato outposts like this air base in buddha, where norwegian forces until recently cooperated with their russian neighbors. Despite good relation with his russia, nato uses its join command certainty and its f16s to be natos eyes and ears in the sky when it comes to russia. Norway runs that operation from its military head quarters. Which it recently moved 600 miles north to buddha. Becoming the only country with a military headquarters inside the Arctic Circle. One big reason for the move, to keep better tabs on russia. Buried deep inside an arctic mountain, norwegian officers track incoming russian bombers on giant monitors. An image that conjures up memories of 1950s cold war suhr surveillance and lately that era has come roaring back to life. Brink man ship between nato and russia has always existed. But the crisis in ukraine may have fundamentally redefined moscows relations with the west. I think without question the ukrainian crisis has pushed the russiawest relationship over the cliff and in to something that is qualitatively different than what we had for most of the cold war period. Nay speech putin gave to russias parliament announcing the annexation of crimea, he outlined a new vision for the kremlin. Moscow would actively protect it considers its sphere of influence. There was one part in which he warned russias western colleagues if you compress a spring to its limbing its, at some point it will spring back hard. And thats the new Foreign Policy of russia. Its springing back against this perceived slights and encroachments by the west. In november former soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachov weighed in saying the expanse. Of nato and war in the middle east have all contributed to the collapse of trust between russia and the west. Translator the world is on the brink of a any cold war, some are even saying that it has already begun. The stakes of this new cold war are about more than just territory and influence. They are also about money. Here are the top of the world the battle is being fought over energy. The arctic is home to 13 of the worlds undiscovered oil and a third of eights natura of its n. Eight nations lay claim to this vast melting landscape, including russia, canada and the United States, they alongside thine khrao eupb or all pursuing huge reserves of oil, gas and, coal. Russias resurgence happen abouts fueled by hydro ca are bon that his came to the subarctic, if they are to stay powerful they need more to come out of the arctic. In thousand seven russia formally staked its claim to billions of dollars worth of arctic oil and gas deposits. Two mini submarines plants aid titanium russian flag on the ocean as floor under the north pole. Canada and u. S. Scoffed comparing it to a 15th century land grab. But the move under scores the growing importance of the region. To get a firsthand look i headed north. Way north, to the northern most town in the world on an island in the high arctic. Many nations are eyeing this once sleepy coal mining settlement as a strategic base in this arctic frontier, we are much closer to the north pole than oslo and this is for polar bears, here they generate electricity by burning coal and they were longing for a place to put the co2 emission that his come from burning coal, trying to find a reservoir to put it underground and came upon natural gas. Find like these have wet the appetites of Energy Prospect terse but its not the only battle in the north. Its about who controls the high seas. Which are increasingly accessible because of global warming. New shipping lanes created by the melting of ice in the arctic could save a lot of money, for example, a cargo ship traveling between western europe and asia typically sails through the sue he is canal, doing it through the arctic shortens that trip by 40 . The number of russia ships has sored what need now are ports and lines of communication, its a big reason why moscow unveiled an ambitious plan to build 13 bases and radar stations in former soviet outposts across the arctic. It would not only be lucrative for russia economically, but tremendously beneficial for russia strategically in the sense that russia would control a key shipping artery. Is it presents an obvious Communications Hub for russia and other polar nations that are increasingly interested in the high north. Thats because of the placement that we have with the activity in the polar sea and placed in the center of that. It has the look and feel of an alpine ski resort yes its a key listening post and Research Center for activities in the high north where 59 of the ice has melted way since 1979. Melting ice in the arctic, its an ironic contrast to the new freeze in relations between russia and the west. A freeze that is steadily putting old cold warren my on his a path toward a new round of battles, whose end game is less about ideologist and more about economic control and financial supremacy. In just two minutes well head overseas and dig deeper in to the cold war style freeze in Relations Just as a ceasefire in Eastern Ukraine is on the verge of total collapse. Plus ill look at the cost of america trying to isolate Vladimir Putins russia. You are watching the new cold war, a real money special report. Tell me whats your minds by tweet me at ali velshi or hit me up at facebook. Com alivelshi. An all new airplane in a once in a generation achievement of human ingenuity. Three years late. Fleet grounding. Fires on the airplane. Theyre short changing the engineering process. From engineering to the factory floor. Al jazeera investigates broken dreams the boing 787 only on al jazera america start with one issue ad guests on all sides of the debate. And a host willing to ask the tough questions and youll get. The inside story ray suarez hosts inside story weekdays at 5pm et 2pm pt only on Al Jazeera America welcome back to a special edition of real money. The new cold war. I want to take a deeper look at the ongoing conflict in ukraine. The ceasefire greed to in september appears to be on the individual overge of collapse. Large explosions and artillery fired rocked the airport in Eastern Ukraine today. 10 people were killed and 17 others wounded in this latest fighting. The situation has deteriorated rapidly since the rebels held elections on november 2nd in areas that they control. And nato is accusing russia of sending new weapons and troops in to Eastern Ukraine to fight alongside those rebels. Phil joins us from london via skype with the latest. Phil, the report suggestions the Ukrainian Government may be preparing to launch a new offensive against the rebelheld areas which, by the way, russia now accepts as being rebelheld areas, what does this mean and what are you hearing . What we are hearing is on the ground there is a major buildup on ale sides, the Ukrainian Government sending troops to the east. And we are hearing about these armored columns what nato claims to be russia troops going in to the area. So while there has been no major breach of that east fire agreement, the socalled minsk agreement, there are daily events, people are getting killed. Its it does look as though both sides, both of the major players, are preparing for more fighting and are using this ceasefire more as a time to reinforce their positions, than to actually step bay from the front lines ali. Lets talk about where the russians stands on this. They recognize these elections in which the rebels in the russian in the area that they controlled, held elects and won. Russia has not gone so far as to recognize some sort of a new country or New Territory or suggest that its going to an exthis area. But this is russias next play, i would assume. And thats why ukraine needs to continue to keep force on these rebels. Well, yeah, certainly thats what the government in kiev says, ali. But, you know, its also very interesting to keep an eye on the last conflict that russia was involved in out in georgia in 2008. Almost eerily similar to this situation in ukraine, there are two separatist areas in georgia that were more or less taken over by, lets say prorussian forces. Now, they are now from 2008 until now slowly being integrated in to the russian federation, whether its some sort of free trade zone not actually within russias borders its yet to be seen, its interesting to keep an eye on that in georgia to get a clear idea what may be the game plan in ukraine. Any sense of the pressure that was being put on Vladimir Putin put on him by western leaders at the g20 summit. We saw particularly harsh words from the canadian minister think but generally the west putting more pressure putin. Absolutely. That g20 summit in australia was interesting, particularly given the fact that putin was given a cold shoulder, his response its interesting to keep an eye on that. And you know, ali, we do look, of course, at the markets within russia, the ruble is in very bad shape. You know, these sanctions are having an effect. But while the inner circle of Vladimir Putin and the kremlin have kind of circled the wagons and certainly there is a sense of patriotism within russia, there are those who are feeling the bite and they are on the periphery of a lot of russian mass media some discussion of some unhappiness at the way the kremlin is managing the situation. Certainly not a popular up rising but grumblings are being heard and its no surprise, again, this is taking an effect on the economy in russia. We will spend the entire week talking about that, phil. Thank you so much for joining us phil from balloon don. Petro poroshenko has cut government funding to rebelheld areas in the east of the country. State companies and organizations there need to close within a week. While Banking Services are also being affected and as Harry Fawcett reports from donetsk, locals are worried that they their already difficult lives are about for get much more. Reporter in downtown donetsk they gather at the one cash points in the area thats been reliable in recent days. But a day after the ukrainian president s decree that among other things promised an end to Banking Services in the breakaway east there is no money to be had. Translator the banks are empty on a sunday. It doesnt give out money so there is none. Reporter elena works for the staterun water company. She hasnt been paid for three months. And at any time sure what to expect now that the buck stops officially with the selfdeclared government of donetsk. I hope theyll help. I would like them to. They are our authorities and this is our city. Yes, i think so. They have to. They promised. But really, i dont know. Reporter at say suburban supermarket part of a chain base Million Dollars western ukraine, bank workers took away the credit card terminals on thursday, for now business goes on, but the bosses dont know what to expect in the coming days. Businesses across eastern a crane the manager here have two key concerns whether they will continue to get access to goods from the west of the country, and whether their customers will find it evermore difficult to get access to cash to pay for them. One question now the extent to which rauch will step in. More russian aid has been arriving through sunday much of this convoy made up of parts and materials to repair the electricity infrastructure as winter sets in. Translator we hope russia wont for gert us. They are our brothers, aid is critical but we also need medical surprise and field the situation is unchanged the country is at war and the economy is basically destroyed. Reporter bull also renewing his appeal for russian help to take more territory. Ukraine and nato say moscow has been sending troops as well assayed across the board never recent days, the theory is that two months of shaky ceasefire could soon be replaced by a return to open, widespread conflict. Harry fawcett al jazerra, don everything. End next the new cold war, is west is in a test of wills with russia, but isolating russia can be a dangerous move that could backfire. Ill explain why when we return in just two minutes. We have been talking about the new cold war between russia and the west. Russias interference in ukraine has been the catalyst for this new conflict but as we have shown you the tensions have spread to nato frontline states. The Arctic Circle and beyond. For more now lets go to ian bremer the president of our asia group. He thinks that talk in the west dangerous. This is interesting , ian because so much of the talk that we have seen at the g20 is further isolations, more sanctions, straight out talk by the Prime Minister of canada, you need to get out of ukraine. Are you stucking a more con struck stiffen gauge. First. Of all thats what you heard in americas another eyes you didnt hear this that from the chineses, he showed immaterial early at the g20 and shined a raft of deals with china. As are all the merging market. The International Community is not support this is. None of the merging markets are. Draw me a picture about how its different from the old cold war. Was it such that russia has enough allies in merging markets and along asia that the old form of isolation that the west practiced during the cold war wont work . Its different in three ways. First, its different because the emerging markets arent with us, china is the emerging largest economy pitch they are doing dealings with russia that really matter. The europeans arent with us as much as we would like. Earlier today the european foreign minister after all the escalation we have seen from russia. I dont think putin is a good guy, lets be clear, he said this further sanctions wont accomplish anything. We should focus instead on reform and support for ukraine, for kiefer. Thats the european foreign minister. Americas ally in the region. And then thirdly, the americans just dont care that much. Mine, at the end of the day, we are talking about ukraine. We are not prepared to prop up this government economically. We are not prepared to fight the Russian Military over a nonnato ally. If you put those three things together and putin feels like he actually as an avenue to win so hes been escalated. So i just came back from these Eastern European country where rightly or wrongly they care. They understand ukraine is note a nato country and the west is not stepping foot in military because that have think but people in pole around are worried rightly or wrongly. The latvians, estonians, they are concerned about it. Do they have reason to be or is that just a house tour cal shadow you worry about. If you turn your back on rushing a they wilin id have. You they have legitimate reasons. They can imagine the same thing happening. Doesnt look like invasion but its creeping trouble and suddenly you have instability. Having said that. The states, hungary, slovakia. The Czech Republic have been saying directly, we do not want trouble with russia. Our economy is on the back foot. We need the gas. We need the trade. Youve got to stop. So nato is not getting stronger as a consequence of this fight. Its becoming more salient, but the differences within nato countries are actually being put very clearly on display. Lets talk about the economy, which well spends the week talking about, i was in pole lands where they have a particular poland where they have a particular kind of apple, known, 60 gets sold to russia. On august 1st that stopped. They cant find a new market for their particular apples. On the russian side, incomes are substantially lower than they are than on the european side. You have these russian enclaves in estonia, latvia, poland. The russians do much better being europeans, but they seem to like this whole mother russia extending its arm of protection around them. Its unclear how much they like it over the longterm. The problem is they out last the ukrainians, thats the real issue here. There was a survey recently take then russia about the level of support of the boycott on European Food stuffs it was about the same level of support as you see for foot inning itself in the mid 80s putin itself. In the mid 80s, its also hitting russians in the pocketbook but thats also the same russians that benefited from Oil Prices Going from 14 up to 100 before they sank back to around high 70s. These russians overwhelmingly feel that they have done better over putin than they did before. And now hes giving some of it back. You definitely meet elites that say hes gone too far, they dont like the fact hes broken the relationship with miss merkel in germany. But on balance they are with him. And unfortunately for all of the economic damage thats being caused from the sanctions and initially from the rushing an on against in this region, you are just not going get the russian to his stand up and say you gotta stop this putin. When putin was in the duma announcing the annexation of crimea. He said as a matter of policy, russia will extends protection in to its spheres of influence. Does that mean anything of importance. Its hard to imagine the americans tolerating the find of International Interference in americas backyard from a you country like russia or china which the russians now field like is being rested upon them in ukraine. Ukraine is absolutely the single most important Foreign Policy interest that the russians have in terms of respite tour cal historical influence and legitimacy in terms of the bases in crimea, in terms of the military Industrial Complex and supply chain in southeast ukraine, having that said ukraine is a sovereign state and the russians have effectively invaded it. Its clear that the americans and europeans have to stands up to that. But its also clear that over the last several months you have seen 80 of the american and european efforts looking at punishing the russians maybe 20 looking to support ukrainians. If you ask me those percentages are exactly backwards. You should have been focused much more on what you can do help kiev and we are fighting the russians to i know you follow this other topic i will get in trouble for make this is comparison by somebody. If you have a strong and acceptable government in syria and a strong government in iraq you couldnt have isil doing what its doing today. I want to draw that example in ukraine with russia. If ukraine were a stronger, more organized, better, you know, betterrun economy, you wouldnt have had this . Or would you have . Thats not clear to me. I think you could at least then have a pathway for the rest of ukraine to eventually move towards being december krafbg, engaged in the European Union even overtime potentially joining nato. Compare ukraine for all of those other country that his we have just talked about, poland hasnt grown as quickly as one might have liked. You its doing pretty women. Compared to a lot of the i the exssoviet communities. They wanted to do better even under the ousted president , the fact is that the germans made life very difficult on him. They made it difficult on sigh cruz on greece, they could hardly make it easier on a country that wasnt a part of the even u. E. U. Ukraine is the ugly stepchild. Nobody is really interested in it. We have diplomacy for key even they cant take that to the bank. The single mistake that the u. S. Made thats unfortunately the largest with all of the visits. Cia director the various secretarys going over the european heads of state inviting them to the nato summit ukrainian president could be forgiven for believing that he could actually win. He could be forgiven for believing that he could defeat the russians militarily in his own backyard, that was never going to ham. Right. And that, unfortunately, is the mistake of the for sill that we now have to live with. Always a pleasure to talk to you. Thank you so much for being with us ian bremer the president and founder of the Eurasia Group and Global Research professor at new york university. Tomorrow ill take to you the polish apple farm that i was just talking to ian about its on the front lines of the economic war thats broken out between russia and the west, find out how sanctions are hurting businesses and economies froeconomiesfrom pole lands to d russia. But Vladimir Putin hold a key trump card, energy that europe depends on. That is the new cold war on real money tomorrow 7 00 eastern, 4 00 pacific only on Al Jazerra America. Coming up next the new cold war isnt only problem rattling the world, there is the matter of Irans Nuclear ambitions. There is one week left in a deadline to reach ideal. Ill lack at what happens if the deadline is, as is likely the case, going to be missed. Stay with us. At the height of the cold war were spies. Intercepting messages from embassies, military bases. One of the americas closest allies. We were not targeting israelis. Suddenly attacked bullet holes. Just red with blood. 34 killed. We had no way to defend ourselves high level coverups. Never before heard audio. A shocking investigation a conscience decision was made to sweep it under the rug. The day Israel Attacked america only on Al Jazeera America now to another International Crisis of sorts. One week from today is the deadline for iran and five world powers, the unites states, china, russia, britain, france, and germany to reach ideal to curtail irans controversial Nuclear Program. The best hope to talks this week in vienna may be to extend that deadline. Iran claims its nukes are for peaceful use only. The u. S. And others suspect they are a cover for a clandestine Nuclear Weapons program. For years iran has been hell bent on developing its Nuclear Program. But crippling International Sanction on his irans economy practically forced it to come to the negotiating table. Patricia sobga take a look at Irans Nuclear ambitions and the controversy they continues to generate. Premier with his parliament behind him. Reporter 1953, irans democratically elected Prime Minister mohamed, is overthrown in a coup organized by the cia. Clearing the way for closer energy ties between washington and iranian monarch. In 1967, the u. S. Provides iran with its First Nuclear research reactor. But in 1979, u. S. Iranian relations meltdown. The shaw i shaw is toppled and sees 52 americans held hostage in the u. S. Embassy in teheran for 444 days, khomeini shuts down Irans Nuclear program only to restart it in 1984 during the height of the iraniraq war. In 1992. Israel raises the alarm. Claiming iran is on track to have Nuclear Weapons by the end of the decade a warning echoed through the corridors of washington. Iran aggressively pursues these weapons and exports territories. Reporter 2002, george w. Bush famous his names iran as parts of an access of evil. Later on, a group claims teheran has built a you rain yum enrichment facility and a heavy water plant. Teheran agrees to suspends its Enrichment Program and allow unannounced inspections. But in thousand six, newlyelected hard line president resumes you rain vinnie enrichment. Lead to go votes to impose sanctions. November 2011, president obama turns the sanction screws tighter barring foreign Financial Institutions from conducting Oil Transactions with irans central bank. A move that culminates in europe effectively cutting iranian banks off from the Global Financial system. Irans savage record reporter out em 2012, israels Prime Minister speaking at the u. N. Uses a cartoon to illustrate Irans Nuclear threat. By 2013, its oil exports halved by sanctions, iran elects reformers rouhani as president obama. President obama speaks to rouhani, the First Contact between the two lead nurse 34 years, by november talks between iran and six world powers yield a breakthrough with iran agreeing to curb portions of its Nuclear Program in exchange for a partial lifting of sanctions. With the deadline and the latest respond of talks looming opinion is deeply divided over whether a longlasting accord can be reached. Regardless of the outcome. Irans tumultuous Nuclear History with the u. S. Is bound to enter a knew face, patricia sobga, al jazerra. Now, to muddy waters even even further, rauch a which is talking parts in the part in the talks announced last week it had agreed to builds two new reaction tours in iran. An adviser on middle eastern affairs. He says iran is willing to take mesh tours assure the world of its Peaceful Nuclear intentions but only in return for a lifting of sanctions. He joins us from strait st r. A. Tfors offices. In the end the west doesnt trust iran and iran doesnt care whether the west fully trusts it. So is this deadline a red hearing. Do we think well get something done by then . I doubt it. There can always be surprises. We can be surprised if an 11th hour agreement is hashed out but it doesnt look like it will be that. At least not right now. We are a week away. But what i think will happen is an understanding will be reached by both sides. Primarily the americans and the iranians that there is a need to continue talking and theyll work on a new road map that will be unveiled on or before that date. The american sanctions against iran that patricia just described were in fact remarkably successful iran needed imports from other parts of the world respect to its oil industry, Auto Industry and when the ability to make payments through the International Banking sit fell was shut off because of sanctions it really did force iran to the table. But beyond that, there are all sorts of demands that the world and israel puts pressure america to get out of iran, but they are just not willing to make. So in the end, what does ideal possibly even look like . I think ideal between the two sides will look like the following, that irans a good chunk of irans sanctions will be lifted or you know, there will be a retrieve of, so a relief in exchange for iran accepting certain limits on its Nuclear Program. Ultimately the iranians want all sanctions lifted for a final settlement. Thats their sort of, you know, maxalist position, but in return, they want to also at the same time, be able to have the ability to harness the technology. And so what they are trying to say is that you know, we are accepting, you know, we can go in to confidence Building Measures and accept temporary limits and cappings on our program. But ultimately, when all is said and done, we should get a clean bill of health. In fairly simple terms, can they achieve having the technology for a peaceful Nuclear Program . What does that even mean . I think they want to be able to develop the technology. Ideally if the would wasnt pressuring them they would have ran towards the nuclear red line or threshold and basically stopped there, they wouldnt being test is because that would invite even more sanctions but they would want to have the ability to develop a bomb think but given the circumstances, i think they are comfortable in saying, you know, we can accept limits but we want to able to behave as a normal signatory to the nuclear nonprevious live raise treaty. The npt. And they keep siting that and saying as a mechanic of the treaty we have a right to develop technologies in accordance with the rules of the iaea. And the question is in the case of the iran, how does the world make sure that they are doing just that and not using or diverting Nuclear Technology for military purposes. Thats exactly the question. Is that going to be the important part of this thing . The idea that they can pursue a peaceful nuke lat strategy and not divert those resources and technologies in to nonpeaceful means in toy a bomb . Absolutely. I mean, the key thing here is enrichment. How much enrichment capability should iran have, you know. Right now, they are somewhere close to, they can if they wanted to, enrich to 20 . Or at least close enough. But they have, you know, limited is self to 5 . They dont want this to be a permanent cap, but it goes back to the same problem its a signator toyota npt but how can you sort of place a cap on enrichment that doesnt infringe on their right as a member of the npt treaty and at the same time, prevent them from any possible diversion towards the acquisition of weapons. So that is sort of the you know, the did he have is in the devil is in the details and the details have to be worked out. Thats the hard part. Keep in mind both sides the Obama Administration and the rouhani government face significant domestic pressure to not give too many concessions to the other side. No kidding. Good to talk to you, thank you so much for the inside in to this. Coming up, the scramble for votes in congress with the future of the long stalled Keystone Pipeline project on the line. Plus what plunging prices has do with mergers in the oil industry. An american tonight investigative report i want the schools to want me no matter what. Im still equal. What if you had a brilliant mind . I want to get into a competitive school. But life has been a struggle. Black and latino kids. They feel shut out of these schools and shut out of the opportunities that they offer and you only have a solitary chance to turn your world around the way to get entrance is through taking one single exam. Testing under fire an america tonight investigative report only on Al Jazeera America the outlook for the Global Economy took a hit today. Japan, the worlds Third Largest economy after the you had and United States and china nounsed it fell in to recession during the summer. It shrunk by 1. 6 in the three months ending in september. That surprised many economists who forecast it would grow, not shrink a sales tax hike imposed in the spring hit Consumer Spending and Business Investment harder than japans government expected. The surprise deepens uncertainty at a time which chinas growing is slowing and europe stagnates. America remains the bright spot for now. Back in this country the u. S. Senate is scheduled to vote on the controversial keystone pipe lean tomorrow. Supporters are scrambling for to gotter votes to pass the still over president obamas rejections. He came out today with some of his harshest comments on the problem today, Mike Viqueira joins us with more, mike. Reporter good he can, to you. The question, is whether will the Keystone Pipeline approval Pass Congress . Its not an if question, but will it be tomorrow, when the senate takes up a bill already passed by the house . Or will it be in january or sometime shortly thereafter when republicans take the helm of the Senate Whether its not a question of whether they will have the votes, as is stands right now, on the eve of the vote, most nos have it at 59 in the senate with 14 democrats joining all 45 republicans that is one short of what they need, they need 60 to have it pass, mary la grow. Lan grow. She took the floor and asked for a vote and got it. Its also a test of the president s power of per situation you mentioned the president in australia. Speaking out again against the Keystone Pipeline vote. Of course its been delayed for six years. The approve process as it moves through the admin striker he will likely veto it if it passes, whether it comes to that is an open question. Spell it out for me. If pass it with the votes necessary and the president vetoes it what happens . You need sick seven in the senate to override it. There is no question that they have those votes, they do no. Look, marys seed is gone and this is a test of the president s power persuasion in the lame duck session while democrats run the place trying to get those ducks in a row, pardon the mixed metaphor there. Its also a test of senator reid and the outgoing democratic leadership. They reversed course. They had bought beinged this vote to for months they wanted to rally behind mary. Shes down 16 points in the poll. She faces a run off, its pretty much a lost cause, republicans have taken money out of race not because they think their man will lose, bill cassidy who sponsored the competing bill in the house because they think its such a shoe in they are not wasting anymore mon there. The question is academic. The Keystone Pipeline is not going to be approved legislatively whether thats because of the president s veto or whether they dont come up with the extra vote tomorrow. But venture taillight i a big question on whether the senate can in fact override the veto next year when republicans take control. Alley. Good to see you as always, thank you so much, well be talk about this a lot in the coming days, Mike Viqueira at the white house for us. Big concern in canada about trans forth using these pipelines and aging equipment. An daniel lak reports they are warning of accidents. Reporter under canadas biggest city crude oil from the west of the country will soon run through a pipeline built 38 years ago to carry lighter oils from overseas. It will flow near neighborhoods, parks and this primary school. Dont build it in our back yard neat our back yard neat. Reporter earlier this year students and teachers made a Youtube Video called look what is coming down the line. About the pipeline next to their playground. Lots of kids travel through the pathway behind us every day on their way two to ask from school and probably never considered the sign that notes the highpressure oil pipeline there. Reporter its a crucial link between the Oil Producing regions and world market. It will start to flow with crude very soon but its route is troubling to many. Those who feel that the changes in the line nine pipeline could lead to damaging spill, do have evidence for their fears. Its in the neighboring state of michigan. In the United States. And it happened in 2010. These are all pumper trucks. Reporter so they are pumping. Pumping the crude out of the river in to holding tanks. Reporter health said she will never forget that frightening july day when heavy crude othersed in to the kalamazoo river from a ruptured pipeline near. I was fearful for myself, my animals and we didnt have the answers. Apparently the pipeline had leaked for several hours at that point. But we were not aware of it. Reporter it was the biggest inland oil spill ever in the u. S. And the pipeline owner, which is also behind line 9, organized a massive cleanup. It cost billions of dollars and took four years. The company says valuable lessons were learned. We wanted to make sure that when the project was complete, and we were done, that the river would be in as good a shape or better than it was before. And also we can assure people that we are taking, again, those steps to not allow this to happen again. Reporter a country so dependent on oil exports can ill afford to oppose all means of accessing world markets. But canadians wants to be assured that what flows beneath their communities, will stay in the pipelines and not poison the waters. Daniel lak, al jazerra, toronto. Tonight Al Jazerra America goes indepth on the i can is surrounding the Keystone Pipeline project. Stay tuned for a special report. Keystone, boom or bust. Ahead tonight at 8 30 eastern and again at 11 30 hes eastern. The fouling price of crude oil is sparking merger activity in the oildrilling industry. Halliburton says it will buy its rival baker hughes for about 35 billion in cash and stock. Shares of baker hughes have dropped 32 since july because the price of oil has plunged. Now, the merger expected to help the two Companies Cope with the industrys downturn, halliburton said its prepared to sale business to his make sure the deal is approved by antitrust regulators. And there is an everybody bigger deal to tell but on this merger monday, activist is buying aler began for a whopping 66 billion the makers of botox. If this is approved by shareholders and regulators it would create one of the 10 largest drug i companies in the worlds. Its a blow to hedge funds manager bill and valiant pharmaceutical they had teamed up in a hostile bid for aler began, they had been gazed in insurgent until they relocated to ireland last year to lower its tax bill. Now after the two companies combined they are expected to have a tax rate of 15 . Coming up why the west should have known about russians apodaca bingeserussiansapodaca n just two minutes. Between 1990 and 2003 nasa launched four satellites to photograph our galaxy across the spectrum of both visible and invisible light. They made up the agencys great Observatory Program and each orbiting telescope saw things a little differently, and now the youngest of the four satellites has just finished its mission. The spitzer space telescope is an infrared camera, it detects objects that our eyes cant see and it has taken 2. 5 million photographs over the course of almost 10 years in operation. 2. 5 million photographs stitched together into one big view, which allows you to zoom in incredibly far to see all the way out past the dust and so forth that blocks our normal vision and look through infrared through all of that dust out at stars that are all the way out at the edge of our known galaxy. And being able to see all of it in infrared means were seeing distant stars, stars at least 100 times larger than our own sun. The ability to navigate among these stars is invaluable to astronomers, but even to a casual observer its pretty mindblowing. Tonight we started our weeklong journey to some of the frontlines between russia and the west as we descend in to a new cold war. We took you from Eastern Europe to the Arctic Circle with both sides are competing for influence and spoils. Tomorrow well say look at the economic costs of sanctions to both sides in the new conflict. But i want to bring this back to the catalyst for it all. The crisis in ukraine. Much of the narrative in the west has focused on russias aggressive tactics and its willingness to Flight International law to maintain influence and control in ukraine. Indeed, there is a lot of truth to that. But we shouldnt overlook the negligence of the United States and the European Union that helped create this crisis. Russia has looked with alarm at natos expansion in the countrys fa used to fall under moscows sphere of influence, that russia would draw all line in the sands whether it came to ukraine is predictable. Ukraine on borders russias soft under belly it has a sizable population of russian speakers who look to moscow for support. It was an e. U. Trade pact that triggered this crisis it ignored russias strategic interests. But russias real concern has always been to make sure that ukraine never joins nato. Ironically ukraines pro western leaders are now more than earring than ever to join nato beus of russias heavy handedness in their country. If the u. S. And others really want to diffuse this new cold war its up to them to understand that until nato membership for ukrainians is either done or off the table, this new cold war is likely to continue and to worsen. Thats our show for today, i am ali velshi, thank you for joining us. In the middle of San Francisco sits a bee farm with a dozen hives and up to a million bees, run by volunteers who plant flowers and fruit trees to attract and build the bee colony that produces honey for the neighborhood. Now, this lots owner and other interested land owners have an extra incentive for setting up community gardens, a new city tax break. Someone paying 10,000 in taxes before would now just pay about 100, their property accessed as farmland instead of prime real estate. Another part of the sweet deal. Urban farms must sell or donate produce to the community or act as a teaching site. But there are few empty lots in San Francisco and advocates have no illusions about how many plots can sprout up. Were not necessarily naive to think that were gonna be able to feed ourselves in a city like San Francisco, but how much can we do . This urban farm serves those living below the poverty line. During the year itll provide over 1000 pounds of food that gets given away to people who have the need for fresh organic produce who have otherwise no means to acquire that type of food. Advocates of urban farming hope that their success will help inspire more cities to join the movement. Consider this the news of the day plus so much more. We begin with the growing controversy. Answers to the questions no one else will ask. Real perspective, consider this on Al Jazeera America four people are killed in an attack a synagog in jerusalem. Well be live with the very latest from west jerusalem in just a moment. Hello, this is al jazerra live from doha. Also on the program, on the road to du damascus, how one group of fighters is making gains in syrias war. The u. S. President orders a review of policy aimed at gaining the release of american hostages but coombs too late for peter kassig. The Nigerian Government looks to external the state of emergency in the north because of the growing threat