A brawl breaking out in the Ukrainian Parliament about who is to blame. Roosevelt said talk softly, carry a big stick. And the credit is for the people in the arena trying to get things done. You are carrying a small suit. Taxpayers are paying 40 million to have federal agencies duplicate each others work. They dont talk to each other and they extanned. Today is equal pay day. It highlights the income gap between men and women. America should be a level Playing Field. We start with an allout war in ukraine, as protesters are reaching the boiling point. In lieu, one of three luhansk, one of three cities where they want a referendum, a building was seized, hostages held at gun point. Investigators say the building was filled with explosives. Moscow is accused of being behind this. In donetsk, prorussian masked men barricaded the main entrance of a government building, occupied by hundreds of protesters, who say the city is the peoples republic of donetsk. Riot police cleared hundreds of prorussian protesters, detaining scores in the process, and finding that during a Parliament Session in kiev, deputies brawled and there are accusations of heavyhanded treatment of prorussian activists. Secretary of state john kerry defended the Administration Response and placed the blame on moscow. No one should be fooled and no one is, by what could be a contrived pretext for military intervention, as we saw in crimea. Russian special forces have been the catalyst behind the chaos. We are joined by dr lincoln mitchell, who is currently an advisor to the human rights institute, and works as a consultant on business and politics throughout the country. And the author of the book the colour revolutions. A late breaking report from the daily beast says american spies are seeing all the signs of a russian invasion of ukraine, and u. S. Intelligence is not sharing the information with the ukrainians. What do you think of the report, and do you think the russians are preparing to invade. They are two different questions. Yes, they are seeing the signs. The media is seeing it as well. Much of that information is public. I find it hard to believe that it is being conceived from kiev. Is russia planning an invasion, we dont know for sure. At the at least they are planning large scale instability, which we are seeing. Should the u. S. Share that intelligence with the ukraine. Yes, they should. Russia warned any force used by ukraine in the eastern part of the country against the agitators, will be met with reaction on their part. John kerry speaking on capitol hill said that pretty much what the russians are doing is following the same crypt in crimea and are looking for any pretext to go into Eastern Ukraine. I would agree with the secretary of state. This is not Eastern Ukraine is not crimea. Thats the bet the United States is making. The ease with which russia got what it wanted is not likely to be repeated. Demographics is quicker theres fewer russians. Its more integrated into the ukraine state. Putin in 2008 told george w. Bush that its not a country, referring to ukraine. This was something that many in ukraine many in the United States as well were upset about. It demonstrated his contempt for the ukrainian state. Hes acting on that notion, that belief that its not a country, they are not going to mind if we take over, because they want to be with us any. He could be wrong. If he is, and they act on the pretext and ipp vade. Theyll have an invade, theyll have an insurgency on their hand. It will weaken and destabilize ukraine, which is a victory from moscow. Its hard to believe theyll have an easy time of it. You wrote on the debate in the u. S. , how to respond to the russian invasion shows the absorption of the political establishment. Putin would do what he wants to do. Shouldnt the u. S. And n. A. T. O. Do something at some point to stop russian expansion. Of course. The points i was trying to make there is first this notion that everything that happens in the world is because of something we did, is just wrong. If you take the approach to foreign policy, you miss a lot of points. The second thing is what has emerged as a talking point. In 2008, when russia invaded georgia and grabbed south ossetia, that george w. Bush, the republican president stood up for the allies and did all of that. Thats a right wing talking point with no grounding in reality. That rhetoric is damning, and demonstrates the worst thing through a party son lens. What we have is an International Crisis and an actor, leader of the country, creating a great daner, not because obama is soft and bush strong. How much should we care. The American People dont care, given what we see from polls about what is going on in ukraine. The reality is the trade with ukraine is negligible. We are doing a segment on venezuela next, and we have more trade with venezuela than russia. After russia invaded crimea, i made that argument crimea is not all that important and its not of Central Security importance to the United States. Destabilising ukraine is different. Civil war in ukraine is different. A failed state close to europe is a big problem for the United States and our allies. Im talking about major european allies. Failed states give rise to terrorism, drug smuggling. They are problems that increase in europe. We dont on russia in a lot of other sensitive areas. Wed like to. Wed like to have a relationship in syria, iran and other places. An effort to destabilize ukraine creates problems for us in countries like georgia, moldova. They are afraid. They see the precedent and look and say are we next. It rach et cetera up the fear ratchets up the fear. If russia is able to destabilize it, they could do a lot of damage. Its not a global power. Barack obama is right about that. But its an important power. Its a big country within europe. So many issues brought up. Good to have you here. After months of violent protests some venezuela leaders said they are ready for exploratory peace talks with the government. Foreign ministers with the union of south american nations shuttled between president Nicolas Maduro, and opposition groups trying to start talks that could lead to a dialogue. It came as Amnesty International released a report warning of spiralling violence, and the country risked the rule of law. It highlights human rights violation, including torture and attacks fon journalists upon journalists. Many took to the streets to demonstrate against one of the highest crime rates in the world. I spoke to our correspondent. Good of you to join us. The pois demanded that all Political Prisoners be freed and peace talks be televised before talking to the government. Are these discussions very preliminary. What is happening is there are very deep differences between both sides. The president Nicolas Maduro said that he is ready for talks, he will talk about the economic policies, and he will talk about the insecurity. Now, as you were saying, the political opposition wants more more than having this meeting televised and with the mediator, the representative of the vatican mediating talks. Amnesty for all the Political Prisoners. Three air force generals, students considered by the political opposition as Political Prisoners. They want the sentiment of the progovernment militants what have been in the protests and seen and photographed by many shooting and carrying guns. They want a renewal of the balance of powers. They want members of the report. The tribunal to be changed. Its time to change because the term ended a while ago and they want new people to be named in the post. As you say, a Truth Commission for a review of the human rights crimes may have been committed by the Community Forces during the last two month of protest. The Amnesty International report that we are going to discuss calls for some of those things, specifically for their to be due process in an independent judiciary. What about the protests, we saw flareups, ugly ones. What is going on now. Have the protests died down a bit. They have mainly died down. There are groups that erupt, protesting different places in caracas. We have seen some barricades located in different areas. They have stood up tents in different areas. Thats the way they continue to protest. What have they gained. We were talking to analysts that said that the students have not gained anything but the right to begin protesting despite the protestation of the security force, and they have shown a fracture. Some students are asking for Nicolas Maduro to resign, they dont want any dialogue. Others are not asking for economic reforms. Others are saying something about the shortages and insecurity, and progovernment hor a government supporter has been telling me as well that this has not been good for the political opposition, because it has also shown that its fractured among them. So many problems in venezuela, thank you for joining us. Talks between venezuelas opposition and the Nicolas Maduro government holds out hopes that months of violence will end, international has soished a report saying issued a report saying the teeth toll will rise. Abuses by groups, protesters and unidentified individuals, and abuses by Government Security forces themselves, including torture, sexual abuse, threats and other inhuman and degrading treatment. Im join the from london. You start the report with horrific stories alleging torture by Government Forces and supporters. What do people following the conflict need to know . We are launching the report after two months of intensive activity. Public manifestations of discontent by society, that are resulting in an increasing violence in the country. The report is documented by violations of human rights by Security Forces in an attempt to control the province, starting in the state. They have been extending across the country, and we are calling upon the conflicted parties to come together in a dialogue. It has to be an exchange of ideas, a continuing process in which the state, the government has the responsibility to ensure that there is an inclusive process that is not just bringing the opposition leaders into the stable. But its incluting represent including representatives of the civil society, including those critical of the government. The opposition was told that they have full guarantees and rights we have an open democracy. The information in your report does not support that on various levels. The report is documented in different cases. In which which has been demonstrated the violation of human rights committed, particularly against protesters, opportunities, who are demonstrating their discontent why government policies, particularly the high lels of criminality that the government has not been able to address the inflation, and the problems with economy in general. The report is also documented, committed by government groups, which we know that the government has a responsibility also to control some of these groups, because its been known over the last decade that the government is not really putting a control in access to weapons, and its in some ways strengthening the capacity of the groups to operate. And the other groups are committing the grave abuses of human rights, in this context in the country. The report criticises president Nicolas Maduro for encouraging the groups, and raises issues with due process, the lack of an independent judiciary, and problems of freedom of the press. It says the country runs the risk of descending into a spiral of violence. And that it will only happen if both sides respect human rights and the rule of law. From your analysis, who is responsible for the violence. The government has the responsibility of protecting human rights of all. It has to really address account eighty in terms of the government being responsible for not just the commission, but responsible to bring those perpetrators of the violation of human rights into justice, and ensuring that human rights will be requirementy in discussion or dialogue. The violations of human rights has been committed by Security Forces. We have documented cases in which progovernment groups are involved in abuses. Protesters, and violence is increasing in different parts of the country because Peaceful Solutions havent been brought to the table for discussion. A lawyer with the Human Rights Center said her group found systematic conduct on the part of the state to inflict an inhuman treatment of detainees, your report mentioned people subjected to electric shock, chemicals, threatening to be lit on fire. I take it its fair to say your report confirmed the applications. The report documented around 13 kateses, and 13 cases, and we havent documented more cases because we dont have information, and many people did not want to have it published in the report. We have allegations of the use of force by Security Forces, but we have also documented cases that their needs have been reporting torture of a mechanism of oppression. Sexual violence in many cases, and violations to the due process. People didnt have access to legal representation at the time they were detained and during the detention, and the charges, the criminal charges were not presented to them, so they didnt have information on the reasons for the detention. More than 2,000 people have been detained in the course of the public demonstrations. The majority have been released. We will continue monitoring the situation, and continue documenting the cases to make sure that the government is accountable not just to bring those responsible for these violations into justice, but is accountable for the application of human rights for all, regardless the political convictions. And the Amnesty International report ends by asking for a human rights plan. Lets hope it happens. Appreciate you time. Thank you. Coming up, the white house urges equal pay for women as questions emerge about its own pay gap for female staffers. The president of the National Support for women joins us next. Incompetence is taken to a new level. Harmeli aregawi is tracking the top stories. In a new exhibit artists prove you can find happiness anywhere even in the worse of circumstances. While you are watching, let us know what you think. You can tweet us at few things are as awkward in the workplace as one employee asking another how much they make. Its forbidden at more than half american companies. Tuesday it was called for that to change hoping it would equalize pay for men and women, happening on equal pay day, which indicated how many more days a year females would have to work to catch up with male workers. The average working woman earns 0. 77 for every dollar a man earns. For African American women and latinos, its less. In 2014 thats an embarrassment. It is wrong. But theres disagreement with the maths with many experts saying its misleading. Equal pay does not exist in the white house where women make 0. 88 to every mans dollar. Im joined by terry oneill, for the National Organization for women. Theres clearly a wage gap. How much is an issue that is being raised. The argument against the 77 number is that its not based on hourly pay, and that distorts the number, and theres differences in the life choices of men and women. Men choose riskier careers that pay more, and men, in the workforce, have longer tenures innons, because women in jobs because women take years off to spend with the kids. What is the reality in all this. What do you think is the reality of the pay gap. Any gap is too large. Whether its 0. 70 to the dollar or 64 or 69. Equal pay day turns out to be may 11th, and for latinos, its not until june 17th. Thats the size of the wage gap. Its true that part of the wage gap results from two unfair things in our society today. First, that women tend to be funnelled into lower paying occupations. Any job that haned in care, health ends in care. Health care, childcare, you name it. They pay less and are predominantly done by women. Hospitality, retail, teaching. Thats an explainer of the wage gap, and its inexcusable. Who thinks that caring for a 90yearold stroke victim is less valuable. We have a lot of work to do. A lot of the gender age gap is age discrimination. The two executive orders that the president signed will start dressing that part of the wage gap. Even though its already illegal to discriminate and not pay for equal pay for equal work. Absolutely. You need the measures because its hard to enforce. Equal pay to equal work. Libby didnt know that she was being underpaid compared to her male counterparts, because it was a fireable offense to compare wages with her male colleagues. So she went years and years without knowing. Now, interestingly, in government workplaces, and in unionized work places the pay scales are well known, they are published. Salaries are published and in both of those work places we find a smaller gender gap. So the kind of transparency that president obama signed into laws for federal contractors will help to reduce the gap. What do you say to the argument that it will create flexibility of companies, if there is transparency, it will give them little flexibility to ajust merit pay and open the door to losses. The reality is these are the same people making the arguments claiming the free market is the way to go. A free market is one where both sides of the traction have roughly the same information. We are dealing with a situation where the employer has all the information about Wage Structure and the employee has little or none. We need to even the scales, the Playing Field so you could have a free market. Yes, when you have a free market, the emplo