Race. Nasas new deal to replace the Space Shuttle and carry astronauts into orbit. Im ali velshi and this is real money. This is real money, and you are the most important part of the show. Tweet me at ali velshi or facebook. Vladimir putin scored a huge victory today. Thats not what youll read in most headlines or newscasts, but thats the bottom line. Ukraine signed an agreement with the european union, but only after russia rudleigh elbowed its way to the table. Only then could it proceed. The worst crisis since the doled war was triggered by the eus push to lure ukraine to its hold. And russia on its doorstep. So they have agreed to delay full implementation of the deal until early 2016, and ukraine still gets Privileged Access to the eu market until then, but at the assistance of moscow, europeans wont get the same free access to the ukrainian market in return. Petroishenko globed over that today. And he said they will be ready for competition with european markets. For the ukrainian economy, thats incredibly Wishful Thinking on his part. By putin, the ceasefire agreement, passed a law today, giving the eastern regions the self rule for the next three years, and that means that the rebels will be allowed to set up their own Police Forces and hold their own elections in december. So far reaction from the rebels is only luke warm, and they dont want self rule, but they want the right to bolt from ukraine, and in the meantime, there could continue to be of violations of the ten day ceasefire on the ground. For the latest from ukraine, we have this report from walker in the embattled city of donetsk. They seem to be saying whatever they want. You can have your own representatives, and prosecutors, and well even pay for the damages that this war has inflicted on that region. But stay with ukraine. That, however, appears to have been flatly rejected by some of the rebel leaders, the deputy Prime Minister came and spoke earlier, and said any Political Union or political relationship with ukraine was unacceptable that too many lives have been lost and they won their right to self determination. But he did hint that there may be some grounds for compromise. The rebels would like to expand that and have control over the entire donetsk area, with the donetsk region. So the ukrainians might let them have greater control over that area, but it seems at the moment, thats a long way to happening. And the ceasefire looking more precarious with more shelling and more civilian lives lost. The fear that russia would ultimately use its superior military weighs heavily with unique, but the crisis goes way beyond military might to russias economic power, im talking about russian energy, which is a constant factor, and the key to natural gas is the key to how this played out. Reporter in the conflict between ukraine and russia, those pipelines serve as a major convoy to europe. 30 is supplied by russia, and half of that gas comes through two major pipelines in ukraine, and these days, gas stops flowing, at least in ukraine. The reason, kiev had not paid a 3. 5 billion gas bill after russia raised prices in april. Something that ukraine says is unfair. I think that people were surprised by that. They thought a lastminute deal would salvage something from the wreckage, and life would go on as usual. Winter is coming. To make up for the shortfall, ukraine is turning to the europe union for reverse flow. Taking russian gas delivered to europe, and reexporting it to countries like ukraine. Something that energy giant, gas pump, isnt thrilled about it reporter the russians said that they dont like europe to do that, and they briefly cut back on supplies of gas to poland and hungry and i believe slovakia. They have contracts with specific things, ie nondelivery, and reverse flow has a challenge to that. After a 70 billion aid package that ukraine received from the International Monetary fund, kiev has enough money to pay its bills. Were not going to continue to send you gas that you dont pay for. And yet ukraine remains part of the network, which is economy. He does need money. The ruble is getting very weak, and the economy isnt looking very good. In other words, russia needs ukraine just as ukraine needs russia. Aljazeera, new york. Well, the complicated energy is just one reason to expect a rough road for ukrainian and russian relations in the near future. Analyst at global intelligence, we join the companys offices in austin, texas. And eugene, good to see you again. You say there are three shortterm challenges. And energy is one of them. The ongoing fighting and the trade relations, and how does that all fit into the tenuous ceasefire . Its all very much interrelated. And what theyre discussing right now between ukraine and russia and the europeans, its a broader settlement, but there are shortterm issues that would prevent a settlement from taking place, so we see the ceasefire as a temporary basis, and we have already seen disruptions to the ceasefire, and the same goes with the economic relations as you mentioned on top of the show. You know, the delay in the implementation of the trade agreement, though russia is still making threats on the trade issue, and then of course the energy, which is still cut off t so there are shortterm challenges on the one hand that are preventing the bigger settlements from happening in the end. At this point, when ukraine agreed to the ceasefire, it sort of patrols the situation on the ground, which is a big leg up for the russians, because at this point, consenting the status quo leaves the ukraine with a lot less territory than they had when this started, it sort of gives russia the upper happened and the fact that its getting colder, and when it comes to energy, russia has leavers. The loss that the ukrainian site had suffered as a result of greater Russian Support of the rebels, so eventually, the ceasefire was a capitulation to russia, but one that was necessary for ukraine. On the energy question, thats going to be a lot more difficult because ukraine has so far held out in terms of negotiations and has not been willing to pay the price that russia has asked for. But now that winter is here, and the storage is lower and lower, thats going to eventually force ukraine into at least a temporary agreement or risk cutting off supplies to the rest of europe which the europeans dont want. Where does this stop . Aside from setting aside sanctions, if you let russia get away with this, the latvians are worried and the poles, and does it feed russias expansionism . In terms of russias position, its most focused right now on ukraine, and thats where its focusing its attention. Though it has also been trying to counter some western efforts in countries like moldova and georgia as well. Russia knows that its not going to do anything major in the countries that are already in the eu and nato. Like poland and the baltic states. But what its trying to do is prevent countries trying to get into the western block like ukraine and georgia. Eugene, thank you for talking to us. Eugene is an analyst. Coming up next, president obama has ruled out sending u. S. Troops back to iraq, but top military commanders say not so fast. Why theyre not closing the door yet. And plus, dark, cloudy elections, a primer on how nonprofit groups are spending record amounts of money on television ads. My name is Shaquan Mcdowell im a 17 year old teenager. I go to a Public High School outside of the city limits of atlanta. Its 99 African American we do get a quality education. You know we have teachers that really care about us as far as the African American stereotypes, all the music they listen too is rap, they only use ebonics, they dont know how to speak proper english, theyve never read a book in their life, all they do is get high, smoke weed, no. Ive never been exposed to anything like that. Coming from a mom who as a single mother, had her first child at 16, who is the ceo of her own company, me being someone who is about to graduate, who is the recipient of a full scholarship, the stereotype is absolutely flawed. Did it ever cross your mind that. Being a single mother that, your children may end up like the statistics say theyre gonna fail being a single mom. Raising five kids, ive always said you guys, you be 100 the best that you can be i would like to run for the senate in 2032. Then it leads to the great big goal in life, to president obama has insisted that american troops will not return to combat roles in iraq, but todays top military officials were not so certain. Chuck hagel and Martin Dempsey told the Senate Armed Services committee that u. S. Ground forces may be necessary in the fight against Islamic State in iraq or isil, they agreed to take on isil. But general devin see added that many would recommend that u. S. Troops get involved directly on the ground if the International Coalition formed proves ineffective. And the campaign against the militants last name be easy or brief. A group of 20,000 militants taking on one of the worlds biggest super powers might sound ridiculous, but its possible that isils leaders want a confrontation with the United States and consider it a plus for their longterm prospects. Jerry, for those out there, they should read your column on this to get a sense of your anything, but youve argued that this might play right into isils hands, why. Well, its hard to say because im sure that our logic should be applied from our thinking. But its entirely possible that from the Islamic State, the islamic organizations, were the ones who have taken the proper path here to try to attract support from armed the world, literally, and from doing that, being seen as the primary tart of the largest super power in the world is in a way an odd badge of honor. A backhanded compliment. And it raises the profile of the Islamic State, and its leaders, and in some cases, it helps to recruit and draw in contributions from around the islamic world because youre seen as a power important enough to be taken on by washington. Thats not necessarily a bad thing from their point of view. And the other thing from that side, were paying so much attention to isil right now, a group that we didnt know much about, because its more recently into the group that it is. And you were a little worried that we might be taking our eye off of ball on these other groups, including aljazeera. Aljazeera al qaeda. They may want to show that theyre not eclipsed and theyre not out of the game and still have relevance, so if ural kid and you were the parent of isil, and youre being dissed by isil, you have to stand up and show that youre still around, same with al qaeda in the arabian peninsula. They dont want to show that they may want to in the shortterm to show that theyre still in the fight, if you will. General dempsey and chuck hagel today, i dont know 23 theyre not being honest, but we know what happens when youre not telling the truth about terrorist groups in wars, or are they just doing a pr job . We dont show a lot of public support for any kind of long drawn out war or troops on the ground in iraq or syria, but thats kind of what they were implying in congress today. Secretary hagel talked about a significant commitment of resources over a long period of time. And thats the message that they want to get through. Right now, theres not a shortage in resolve to do something about Islamic State. I think that the beheading videos did that for the public. And they steeled the american resolve. And it may have been seeing doing to steel the american resolve. But i suspect that youre not going to have a lot of American Public support for boots on the ground in iraq and syria, and thats not going to be necessary, but you have military leaders who have seen this before, and it may not work out the way that you have hoped and theyre going to prepare the ground in case things dont work out that way. Jerry, you implied that public support may be perishable, and is this going to play at all during the campaign . The politicians may be asked about it. Its not a factor, you have figures in both parties who are freed and dont know where to go. And on the other hand, people dont want to be soft on Islamic State, and on the other hand, people dont want to rush back in like the quag mar in the middle east. I expect it will be a factor but not a giant one. Jerry, thank you for being with us, Washington Bureau chief at the wall street journal. Republican senator says that isil is just as big of a threat azib ebb. He is sending 3,000 military personnel to combat ebola. And the president is asking for 88 million for vaccine development. The death toll has doubled in the last month to nearly 2500 people in the region. Its hard to get your head around this. Were sending 3,000 military troops to battle ebola, and were struggling with isil and the white house is juggling a couple of issues, and tell me about the ebola approach. Thats right, with everything going on. Though theres a tragedy in west africa. 5,000 individuals have contracted ebola there, and half of them have not survived. The president is meeting with kent brantly, the doctor who was in south africa treating some of the victims of the disease and he was here with his wife in the oval office. And he went up and testified after that, but then the president made the trip down to it centers for Disease Control in atlanta, and if you werent alarmed by whats going on before today, you might be. If you listened to the president and heard some of the statistics, and you get an appreciation for just how deadly and lethal this disease it, and how quickly it spreads without proper treatment, without education, and without keeping a lid on some of the panic that has ensued here. The president said we have to act fast, and he called it a Top National Security problem, and a threat to global security. And he said one of the goals here is to keep people from panicking, if people panic, economies are threatened around the world in addition to a major health problem. I hate to ask the obvious question, and i kind of feel like everything that the president does is met with opposition, is there bipartisan support for this, and whats going on with this . There is, and th the omni bus, the funding to keep the government open for several months to they can go home and try to get reelected. And the 88 million, the house has whittled that to 50 million. And the administration has put 150 million toward its program, and the 3,000 troops will be there to help control the spread. And address the ripple effects in the area, and accord a response, and buildup a health system. And buildup the logistic engineering and keep it localized and wipe it out as the epidemic continues to spread in west africa. I cant do this with everybody, but i can with you, and your mind is going eight directions at the same time. And i want to go back to isil. What progress are we reporting today on isil, particularly the idea that were getting all of the countries together in a coordinated effort. Some of the criticism has been that other countries have offered air support. And its not exactly the thing that were lacking. Thats exactly right. And if anything, it might be more of a muddle today. You saw the white house backtracking and Martin Dempseys recommendation for Ground Troops in the future t. If this thing doesnt work out, particularly in syria. He was speaking hypothetically, and a spokesman for the joint committee of staff, you look at the numbers here, ali, and they revealed that they have something on the order of 31,000 isil fighters in iraq and syria, but 2 3 of them are in syria. How do you address that . When will the airstrikes start . If youre going to train so many of the Free Syrian Army on saudi territory, it could take five months to get that set up. And you have to send the first one and then vet them, each individual to Training Camps and after a year, theyre inserted into the battlefield. And how do you stop them from keeping the assad forces apart . There are 30 nations that want to take part in the military operations and 40 nations who want to help overall. And we havent heard from them yet. John kerry has key testimony tomorrow in the senate. And hes going to let us know the details. Well, we learned today that reconstruction in the war ravaged palestinian territory may be ready to start soon. In the building materials, like shcement, may be lifted. In gaza, a tentative agreement between israel and the Palestinian Authority will let applies come into gaza, and israel is concerned about the tunnels and the israelis have charged hamas with using the cement deliveries to build the extensive tunnel network, they have used the tunnels in recent fighting to smuggle weapons. And rebuilding of gaza could cost more than 6 billion. Coming up, china may produce more enemies than any other country, but it cant compete with the United States when it comes to innovation. One of the most influential minds in Silicon Valley will tell me what chinas major problem is. On tech know, fire, devastating and out of control whats at stake here . Theres approximately 360 homes. But now experts say they can predict how a blaze might spread this has been in a fire, now we gotta get the data out of it playing with fire. You guys are working just to save lives. I hope so. Tech know every saturday go where science meets humanity sharks like affection spot on. Dont try this at home. Tech know, only on Al Jazeera America weekday mornings on Al Jazeera America we do have breaking news this morning. Start your day with in depth coverage from around the world. First hand reporting from across the country and real news keeping you up to date. The big stories of the day, from around the world. These people need help, this is were the worst of the attack took place. And throughout the morning, get a global perspective on