Its own money. Its about community support. Its about shopping local. Its about sustainability right here where we live and we work. Brown the internets making its way into our cars, our refrigerators, even our toilets. Hari sreenivasan asks does that make it easier for hackers to disrupt our daily lives . Woodruff and, its a bird, its a plane, its the story of superman through the ages. There is no more symbolic character than superman, who created the archetype of the superhero. And everything thats come after him thats touched on the idea of somebody who dressed up in a weird outfit and fights for the powers of good, comes from him. Woodruff thats all ahead on tonights newshour. Major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by moving our economy for 160 years. Bnsf, the engine that connects us. And by the alfred p. Sloan foundation. Supporting science, technology, and improved Economic Performance and Financial Literacy in the 21st century. And with the ongoing support of these institutions and foundations. And. This program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. And by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. Thank you. Brown the u. S. Push to punish syria over chemical weapons use dominated the g20 summit that opened in russia today. The president hoped to advance his policy in the face of stiff opposition from the kremlin. President obama arrived in st. Petersburg knowing his host, russian president vladimir putin, is a central obstacle to action against syria. The two men exchanged a handshake and pleasantries, but little else, underscoring the palpable tensions between them. Those were already evident in june when they met at a conference in ireland, and since then things have gone from bad to worse. The president said as much yesterday in sweden. Weve kind of hit a wall in terms of additional progress. But i have not written off the idea that the United States and russia are going to continue to have common interests even as we have some very profound differences on some other issues. Where weve got differences, we should be candid about them, try to manage those differences but not sugarcoat them. Brown a key difference came when russia granted asylum to edward snowden, the National Security agency leaker. That prompted president obama to call off a formal meeting with putin during this trip. The russian leader suggested yesterday it doesnt matter whether they like each other. translated president obama hasnt been elected by the American People with the purpose of being pleasant to russia, and your humble servant hasnt been elected by the people of russia to be pleasant to anyone. We work, we argue about some issues. We are human, sometimes one of us gets vexed. But i would like to repeat once again that Global Mutual interests form a good basis for searching for joint decisions. Brown on syria, though, putin said its completely ridiculous to conclude that the Syrian Government was behind a chemical attack outside damascus last month. So far, russia has blocked action by the u. N. Security council, and today samantha power, the u. S. Ambassador to the u. N. , said that leaves no viable path forward at the world body. Even in the wake of the flagrant shattering of the International Norm against chemical weapons use, russia continues to hold the council hostage and shirk its international responsibilities, including as a party to the Chemical Weapons Convention. Brown meanwhile, back in washington, there were more closed briefings for senators and house members as the administration pressed the need for a military strike at syria. The argument was bolstered by former defense secretary robert gates, who came out in favor of the president s policy. Still, a number of lawmakers remained uncertain, including republican senator Susan Collins of maine. I am firmly undecided at this point. This is very serious. Its a very difficult issue. You have to look at the impact on israels security. We have to look at the signals that it sends to rogue states like iran or north korea if we dont act. But we also have to consider the possibility that our acting would cause a further escalation of the violence in the region. Brown two other republicans, louisianas david vitter and utahs mike lee, announced today theyre opposed to using force in syria. But democratic senator dianne feinstein, chairing the Senate Select committee on intelligence, said shes convinced by the evidence that its time to act. Its enough for me. See, i think the prohibition on chemical weapons is well founded. And after you watch exactly what happens, you can see why thats so. Because they have tons and tons and tons of this stuff. They have one of the largest if not the largest storage base of chemical weapons in that part of the world. Brown a senate vote is expected next week and an Associated Press survey found today that 40 senators are undecided on how they will vote. 34 support or lean toward military action and 26 are against. Even from st. Petersburg, aides said the president has been calling lawmakers in search of more yes votes. Hes expected to continue lobbying both congress and World Leaders before returning home tomorrow night. Woodruff for more on the challenges ahead for president obama at the g20 and here at home, im joined now by former National Security advisor to both president s gerald ford and george h. W. Bush, general brent scowcroft; and christopher hill, a former diplomat who served as special envoy to kosovo while the u. S. Intervened in that conflict in the 1990s. Gentlemen, welcome to you both. General scowcroft, to you first. First, let me just understand where the two of you are coming from. Do you think an attack on a strike on syria right now is the right thing to do for the United States . We have put ourselves in a position where one can argue it is because of the Chemical Warfare convention. But we have not sought help from anybody to enforce a Chemical Warfare convention. Its not a u. S. Treaty, its an International Treaty that says these are terrible weapons of mass destruction and should not be used. We have been unilateral in this. We havent formally gone to the u. N. We havent formally gone to nato. And so, yes, if were going to enforce it. But if were going to enforce it we should do it as a part of unity. Woodruff ambassador hill, how do you see it . Is this the right thing for the United States to be doing right now . I think its the right thing in the absence of any alternatives at this point. We need to take a stand on the use of chemical weapons, weapons that have been banned for some 80 years, weapons that were never even used in world war ii and so these have been used by Syrian Forces and i think we do need to take action. But i completely share with you that we have not done enough internationally and in trying to talk about it in terms of only weapons and in terms of only chemical weapons without discussing the syrian conflict is really something that people dont really buy that distinction. And the problem with the syrian conflict and with our with our activities there is we have had really no diplomacy to try to work through what it is that syria should be in the future. And what really disturbs me lately is the fact that not only do we have a crisis in syria but as a result we are emergeing with a kind of crisis in our relations with russia and with some other major states. So we really need to step up the diplomacy, to have a way forward on syria. You know, even if alassad gets hit by a bus tomorrow there has to be a future in syria and we need to do a much better job of working with the International Community to identify what that future should be. Woodruff general cokroft, president obama right now is meeting with leaders of these other countries. Given the lack of outreach that you and ambassador hill described, what are the arguments. What should president obama be saying to these other leaders at the g20 . Well, what he should be saying now is that the Chemical Weapons Convention is a Worldwide Convention against a horrible weapon and Everybody Needs to stand together to do something about it. Then the next question is what to do. And i think, you know, the administration has not been very specific about what to do and i think if were going to do something it has to make a difference. Because if its a slap on the wrist that merely strengthens assad, makes the United States feel good. So if we say were going to do something about the Chemical Warfare convention we need to do something and it these make a difference. Woodruff and does what youre hearing from the administration sound like it more than a slap on the wrist. Theyve been, i think, remarkably silent about what kind of attack there will be. They have, with some reluctance, agreed to no boots on the ground but thats about the only restriction they talked about. Woodruff ambassador hill, from your perspective what should the president be saying right now to these leaders . Hes gathered with the leaders of the g20, the group of 20. What should he be during what argument should me with making that he hasnt snead. I think he should make precisely the argument that general scowcroft just outlined plus he should be saying that this syria conflict if left unattended is going to have more such outrages, its already metastasized to the rest of the middle east, its affect manager of our interests in that part of the world and that therefore the United States is going to work with likeminded states on coming up with a diplomatic way forward. Whether its coming up with some kind of plan for syria that is syria should remain within its international borders, syria should be some kind of federal estate. This has nothing to do with whether the parties in syria could agree this at this point. It these do with the u. S. Being diplomatically committed to working with others, to find a future for syria. I think what a lot of countries looking for is if youre going to use military if youre going to use weapons, bombing in the context of in dropping them on a country, it cant just be in terms of the of an international agreement. It also has to be done in terms of what the political way forward is. And thats where we have essentially told people that were washing our hands of syria. That we want assad to go and thats that. But i think many people and, indeed, many leaders in that g20 have real suspicions about what this opposition in syria would look like, what are their plans, . How could they ever take over syria and ensure that it would be a better place than it is today . Judy, its remarkable how different we have approached syria from the way we did in libya. In libya we got a u. N. Resolution authorizing the use of force to protect civilians. We got a Nato Alliance to apply the force. And we got the local regional organizations the arab league to support it. That was perfect. Now, what we didnt do in libya and were doing now is go to the congress for authorization. Woodruff but isnt the idea of getting the u. N. On board impossible given the relationship between the russia and syria . It is pretty much. In impossible right now. Although even the russians, i think, would be reluctant to be visibly opposed to supporting the Chemical Weapons Convention. But i think ultimately the u. S. And russia agreement on syria is the best try stop the fighting. Pelley but are we talking about something thats purely theoretical here, ambassador hill . Because we just saw the reporting from st. Petersburg. The president , vladimir putin, we know those relations are frosty right now. The idea of depending on russia supporting any u. S. Action, wouldnt that be tantamount to not doing anything . Well, i dont think were going to get any russian acquiescence or russian support, certainly not in the time frames we envision. But i think we need to give some reassurances to russians and elsewhere that were going to be diplomatically engaged. I really think as heinous as this alassad has been, i think we ought to avoid talking about simply disposing of him as the. I think we need to talk more about how the parties in syria need tongle them around a table theyll start throwing things at each other so what you do is try to get them around some ideas. You need to shop some ideas. In kosovo we had a contact group. In bosnia we had a contact group. Those conflicts were not ones that were solved through military action, they were political plans in which military action was there to support. And what we dont here is any kind of political way forward except to say assad must go and i would argue that just saying assad must go is not going to solve the problems of syria. Woodruff general scowcroft, are you saying its too late to get this kind of diplomatic architecture together . Well, its very late. But i would remind you that for a while we and the russians had useful discussions about syria. And then assad seemed to be doing better and the russians didnt see any need to make a deal. But i think we still need to try because we cant solve the syrian problem by ourselves. The best thing i think, the best outcome possible, is to stop the violence to try to resolve the issue without the horrible violence going on now. But were in a very tough position. Woodruff just quickly, ambassador hill, do you have a sense that theres still a chance to pull together some sort of diplomatic architecture, whatever the word is, that would backstop that would back up any military action . I do in the sense of if were committed to a diplomatic approach and by the way the president has hinted at this in recent public statements so i think if we started that i think that would be a step in the right direction. I think people would like to see what we have in mind. I hear people say the time for that was too two years ago and its too late. But as things are going right now, this conflict is going to be around two years from now. People will say well the time for it was two years ago. So, yes, i think its something we can do but i think we have to make it the centerpiece of our strategy rather than just talking about providing weapons or dropping bombs. Woodruff ambassador chris hill, general brent scowcroft, we thank you. Thank you, judy. Brown we have more on syria from democratic congressman alan grayson. Also coming tonight a small is beautiful local currency; our cars and homes on the web; and a biography of the man of steel. But first, the other news of the day. Heres kwame holman. Reporter the interior minister of egypts military backed government survived an apparent assassination attempt today in cairo. A suspected car bomb blew up near his convoy, wounding at least 22 people. Our Margaret Warner is in cairo, and i spoke with her earlier about the incident. Margaret, welcome. Whats been the reaction to this attack among the people in egypt . Kwame, it is a huge story here. It led the evening news, its playing in an endless loop. The scene of the bomb blast, the base of that building sheared off all the way up to the fourth floor. Theres a lot of commentary about how alarming this is. This is the first assassination attempt or attack on any member of this new interim government since the military deposed the elected leader Mohamed Morsi of the Muslim Brotherhood two months ago, that this clearly looked like a very professional job, this was a big bomb, pros did this attack. And, third, that the target of the attack was the man whos been driving the crackdown on the Muslim Brotherhood, that is the interior minister that has killed more than a thousand morsi supporters and rounded up untold thousands more. And, in fact, the interior minister predicted, he said i think this is not the ending but the beginning of a new wave of violence. We happened to be interviewing the deputy Prime Minister at the time and he said if the crackdown did drive some members of the brotherhood or islamists to start another insurgency of the type this country saw in the 80s and 90s he said we wont tolerate it and anything we do to crack down on it will be justified. Holman so, margaret, we are seeing reports here of the Muslim Brotherhood officials making statements saying that they condemn this attack. Whats to be made of that have . Kwame, we happened to go to. A long time brotherhood figure who issued that statement condemning it flatly denied anyone from the brotherhood was involved. When i said who do you thinks involveed . But interestingly he and the interior minister both agreed, this is avery dangerous thing to have happened in this volatile atmosphere right now. This that this count i have so polarized that acts, major acts of violence by one side can easily trigger a vicious cycle, more violence on the other side. Holman our Margaret Warner in cairo. Thank you. A twomonth Hunger Strike by california prisoners ended today after legislators agreed to consider reforms. At its height, more than 30,000 inmates at twothirds of the states prisons have refused to eat. They were protesting the solitary confinement gang leaders and others, sometimes last manager years. Legislators now have promised tonight, the view of a house walmart workers and supporters protested across the country today, the latest in a series of such actions. They gathered in 15 cities to demand better jobs and higher wages. They also said they want the company to take back employees allegedly let go for protesting. I want walmart to stand up and do the right thing and reinstate the illegally fired workers. I want them also to improve our working conditions, improve the poverty wages they put us through, and provide health care for all their workers. Reporter the demonstrations