Do you personally dislikes homosexuals. Of course they are disgusting. He signed law criminal eyestion hom 0 sexuality. I have vetoed the bill moments ago. Arizonas governor rejects the bill that would have gays. There is proof of what three years of civil war has done to a people. This photo speaks volumes. They are all waiting to get food from the u. N. Which started delivering food and medicine last month the soldiers. I joined the marines to serve as an honorable man. Ists thrown away. The greatest buried treasurer located. 10 million worth of gold coin. At the end of the rainbow, you will find a pot of gold. We begin with gay rights, as arizonas governor vetoed an antigay law. American aid to countries that consider homosexuality illegal take the spotlight. The u. S. Sends uganda a half billion dollars in aid every year but a new law in the african country makes imprisonment. Has pushed nor wafrments, the netherlands and denmark to reduce the amount of aid they will give the ugandan president. He says western lifestyles have already caused his conservative country problems and that he doesnt want any interference. To be a homosexual, its some genetic but mainly external factors. Like influence. We dont want anybody to interfere in our internal affairs. Finished. The u. S. Officials have not finished a review of relations with uganda since the law passed. Secretary of state john kerry out. We will stand up for peoples rights anywhere in the world because thats who we are in the United States of america. I think this law in uganda, the notion that somebody for being gay would be thrown into jail for 14 years or otherwise punished in other ways is disgraceful. Its contrary to fundamental basic human rights. Its also contrary to science. Its contrary to fact. Kerry said wednesday he was surprised to learn that 80 countries currently have laws that outlaw homosexuality. But should the u. S. Suspend aid to a country because of that . For more, i am joined from washington, d. C. By dr. Steven rado look at, the chief economist for usaid, the u. S. Agency for international development, also a former senior of development to secretary of state Hillary Clinton and is the treasury for africa, the middle east and asia. He is now a professor in the practice of development at georgetown university. Great to have you on the show. Thanks for having us. This has to be a tough call for the obama administration. On the one hand, john kerry talking about human rights. On the other hand, there is good cooperation between the u. S. And uganda on aids, other Health Issues and Counter Terrorism efforts, specifically in somalia. Uganda has 6,000 troops fighting al shabaab. So with can he just say, hey, we cant accept this law that you have passed against gay rights and pull aid or at least some of the aid we give uganda . We could pull some of it. We cant pull all of it. And part of the reason is for what you just said. We have multiple objectives here some of them shortterm. Some of them longterm, and the issues around gay rights are important. Vice President Biden has spoken out about this. Secretary kerry has spoken out about this. We also have other objectives we have to keep in mind. So, i think that we can and i wouldnt be provides if we pull some aid but i would be surprised if we pulled a large share of it. A large portion is for hiv aids and specifically for people who are on antiretrovirals, that would be a death sentence for those people. So we have some constraints as to what we can do without harming people we are trying to assist. There is a lot of money going in to a not very wealthy country. It helps the government to have that money going in. So, how do you figure out what you do when the government passes a law that is so did you say criminalnagory. We have to focus on the longterm and engage countries on a number of issues among Human Rights Violationsing, around democracy. Some is longterm, generational change within countries for example, we work with south korea for a long time before they were a democracy and over time, they become not only a thriving democracy but a stron ally. Same for indonesia, we supported them before they were democracy. Until different societies, these things take time. We cant just pull and go back important. I suspect we will reduce some aid about half a billion dollars in foreign assistance. Some will be impossible to pull back. Other things that are supporting agriculture, supporting trade, supporting programs. On that front, other countries in the region, most of the countries in the region have similar laws. Nigeria gets 699 million, it tansania, kenya, 464, 463, of course, to uganda as we have said. So where in the past have we done this . Have we cut . Suspended aid reasons . We have suspended aid in many countries for different types of violations. More often than not, the military violations, military abuse, shooting protesters. Sometimes for corruption a years ago. Some for corruption. Not as often on these kind of Human Rights Violations and so what i suspect we will do is some of the aid but not all of it. Mention other countries in the region have similar laws. A big distinction here i think is between the enactment of the law and whether or not the law is actually forced. And it may be the way it has played out, they put some pressure on the enactment of the law but if its not enforced, if uganda does not really arrest and prosecute anyone, we may be able to fully engage. If in such time they actually do again to arrest people, a lot of the neighbors have these laws. Not many actually enforce them. A pew poll found 96 of ugandans dont think accepted . I dont know what that number would have been in the United States had we done that 40 or 50 years ago but it would be a hi h percentage of people who would have agreed to that. Societies change our views and changing on this. We understand its not surprising other countries have these percentages. At the same time, vice President Biden and secretary kerry have spoken out loudly. So, i do think because of that, there will be some kind of response. It will not be the full suspension of aid but i believe it will be a partial suspension of some of the smaller amounts of aid coupled with strongly ramping up diplomatic efforts, engaging uganda, making public statements for International Fora and finding ways to put pressure on the ugandans about this issue while bringing it forward over time and still continuing to engage with them for the other many reasons. Many Different Levels. Thank you for your time. The pentagon, where the army has disequallqualified andunprecede number. The sdmaldz stem from a reviewed ordered by chuck hagel who wanted soldiers working in sensitive positions screened for prior criminal or unethical behavior. The mass expulsion comes as lawmakers are trying to revive debate on a military sex assault bill. Jessica ken jon testified the military system for dealing with assault cases is so inadequate, she had nowhere to turn when she was raped. I had to google what to do when it happened to me. We are joined from philadelphia by Jessica Kenyon t jessica served as appear Army Private First class and is the founder of benefitting veterans. Org, two on line support networks. We are joined by colleen bushnell, a retired air force sergeant and Sexual Assault survivor who works paz a reform advocate. It is good to have you on the show. Jessica, it must have been tough hill. Its terrible to think you were alone and you had to turn to the internet to figure out what to do after you were assaulted. You had no way of going to your commander . Thank you for having me. Yeah, at the time, this was in training and during training, you are under the very strict hold of your commander. And this commander, every friday, would make open statements of sexist remarks and homophobic remarks to his unit. So to trust him with anything, let alone my wellbing was out of the question. The right thing. Always pressure from swyer to make the whole, you know, things they dont want to touch to away. Absolutely. The pushing in keeping everything under wraps and making things just appear as recordkeeping. Clea colleen, you have been advocating for change. Is this the first step . The National Defense authorization act of 2013 was packed full of new solutions. However, we are asking for not include in the provisions of the military justice improvement act sponsored by senator jimm jillibra. Interest. The question is the pentagon says it can take care of the military Sexual Assault problem by itself, that it doesnt need legislation. Colleen . Survivors are reporting, 2 out of tep. The other 8 are afraid to come forward. In the meantime, we need reform as we speak. Jessica, what do you think about that . And mccaskal, they are senators. Are you frustrated they cant get together on this and figure out a way to deal with this problem . Because the numbers in the increased sects annual assault is tremendous. The biggest problem, every step of the way, it seems to threaten quote, unquote the integrity of the command or command readiness, et cetera, et cetera. Excuses they come up with. The point is every time its implemented, it betters the command and it keeps the integrity lose. Colleen. Im sorry. Go ahead, jessica. I was just saying, sorry. I was going to speak on the fact that jillibrand and mccaskill capital agree on the bill. My biggest thing is they are both they both have their positive note. I would say i would settle for mccaskill but i am pushing for jillibrand. You would like it to be outside of the shape of command, that commanders would not be involved in making a decision about what happened in a Sexual Assault case . Absolutely. Its not even im sorry. Go ahead, jessica. It absolutely needs to be removed. I would say all felony level cases as well in addition to the Sexual Assault. Colleen, do you agree. I agree wholeheartedly. As a matter of fact, i personally believe the military. I believe we dont have good data right now. The chain of command, keeping it in the military will get better numbers. My hunch is that something more exhaustive not backed by depressed woman is whats going culture. Its interesting that secretary hagel conducted this review. Aside from the army, it seems few had problems. The navy dropped 3 out of more than 5100 recruiters and only two out of almost 5,000 counselors and the air force and the marine Corp Reported that none of their Service Members had been disqualified. Colleen . This is just evidence. The firing of the 588 persons in of trust today and what you just mentioned are evidence as to why we need real reform, why we cannot leave it in the chain of command. The uniform code of military justice was written based upon british law. Even the british, the canadians, australians have all implemented this approach to handling felonyy crimes and it works. So, i think this is going to happen, to be honest. But i can, you know, assure you that we are going to fight until it does happen because its the right thing to do. It is a big problem, even the demand for Mental Health sexual abuses is out stripping haven veterans administration. Jessica, colleen, good to have you with us. The ukrainian crisis continues to grow. Now, there is a chance from russia. Continuing to fill the streets with rage over the government. Well after the break get the governments side of the story from a prominent supporter. Our associate professor is tracking the top stories on the web. It is ramping up. I will tell you more about that. While you are watching, join the conversation at ajconsiderthis or leave a comment on our facebook page. These protestors have decided that today they will be arrested these people have chased a president from power, theyve torn down a state. Whats clear is that people dont just need protection, they need assistance. Aging america continues tonight. We know exactly what you are doing, and know that you need help. Amazing technology that helps your parents. [screen voice] i am a virtual assistant. Stay in their homes. Did you ever think that youd be living with robots . No, never tonight on Al Jazeera America. People wondering what putin will do. He ordered up a military exercise for 150,000 troops on ukraines border. Meanwhile, fist fights broke out between proand antidemonstrators in crimea that has an ethnic russian majority and was part of russia until 1954. For more, i am joined here by christopher dickey, editor for the daily beast who has written extensively on recent events in u vein. Great to have you on th shoshow in ukraine. Thank you for having me. The. I think thats very indicative in the judgments that it makes. That doesnt seem t on the border with troops. Putin is making a powerplay here he is saying we have got the power. We have got the military here and this is a real challenge to not om to u crepe. I think we have to start to see it as a cha edge to the west would what americans do if we saw Russian Troops were rolling into the crimea . I dont know. Does he have the power . He has the troops there. Does he have the power to go in and occupy ukraine . Not okay pay crain. May well have the power fogo in and take crimea into russia, as you pointed out was where it was. All of that would make it easier. But the call would go up. We cannot let the territorial integrity of ukraine be compromised like this. And then what would we do . I really think that this is a quand re. I think putin knows its a terrible quand reforp quandary for president obama. I think the sedate department and what peeps are having to come up with now is quiet threats today in terms of trade, sanction, Something Like that. Some kind of isolation. I think if he gets really aggressive he is going to be in a stronger position. Much more prorussia. Could putin use these as an excuse to go in there. The reputation t many, many times. Back in 1990. He was saying he was being called by kuwaites to come in and intervene and bring them back to the iraqi fold. Lets look at a way secretary kerry used to describe the situation between russia and the west. You will not see thas some of the continuation of the cold war. We dont see it that way. We do not believe this should be an eastwestrussiaglus this is not rocky iv. Believe me. We do not see it that way. Does the putin see it that way . Does he see himself as a drago fighting against rocky and apollo creed . I think he probably does see it that way. Certainly, the American Government is worried. The other day, it was not a situation where i win, you lose, you win, i lose. We can make this work together. There is no kumbaya moment with vladimir putin. In his view of the world, he may make tactical compromises but strategically russia wins, others lose. Strategically, it is important on acth a lot of Different Levels economically. Some stantial natural gas. I mean russias depending upon exporting gas and petrolium to the world but particularly gas, 76 go to europe. They almost all go to u crepe. U crepe has been the dependent transit country for that trade. That compromise the position. It gives them less thousand where they could cut off gas . They have cut off gas in 2006 and 2009 so they could drive a tougher bargain. The economics of it for ukraine, however, they were depending on those 15,000,000,00 15,000,000,000. If it defaults, political changes. Will they be able to get their act together so they can off and package . I am not sure that they are confident of that. The new Prime Minister, the newly appointed prime Miles Per Hour sister told some reporters yesterday, we are political suiciders in the situation. Welcome to hell. You have written about yanukovych, the former Prime Minister who just was released from jail and who was seen by some as a possible future president in ukraine. For. She is media genic. She was rich before she was media genic. It worked with the west. The ukrainians are tired of her. As long as she was in vale. She was a bit of a heroin. A lot going on there. States. Good to see you. Before we turn to another divided country, venzuela, we want to show you some devastating pictures that demonstrate the ref jopling e crisis. A have the biggest ref jopling e problem inside and outside of any nation, including more than 18,000 desperate palestinians in the refugee camp in damascus. Son seem here queueing up for food. They have been devastated by fighting and by a blockade that has seriously disrupted efforts to deliver supplies. U. N. Aid workers delivered 450 food parcels to refugees there wednesday that they admit it is a drop in the ocean. Venzuela where opposition leaders wednesday rejected a call from the president to take part in a National Peace conference aimed at ending 3 weeks of antigovernment protests. Veraka saw competing tissues. Thousands of women marched to demonstrate against what they call the repress and violence by the security vie lenses which they blamed on cuban advisors. Thousands of supporters rallied in a march to the president ial palace declaring their support for peace and against what the approximately has called a coup spoof de ta by journalists. I am joined by a venzuelan attorney on and editorinchief of the paper funded by the venzuelan government. And chavez code cracking u. S. Intervention. Pope francis wad he had into the venzuelan conflict today and called for an end of the violence and peace and reconciliation. Can that happen . Of course, it could happen. The majority of venzuelans want peace and there to be a dialogue and dont want these kind of violent protests to continue disrupting their lives. Right now, i mean the president has been engaging in efforts to try to dialogue with those, has brought as many as will participate together in a conference for peace and important representatives from the business sectors in venzuela, the head of their chamber of commerce have participated and have manifested their desire to work towards improving the Economic Situation of the country degree and improving overall scenario. The photo opinion because they believe there ha