Millions of people will get tax breaks to help them afford coverage. Thats what this reform is about. Two federal courts issue opposing rulings on a key part of obamacare. It looks like the Affordable Care act just might be headed back to the supreme court. Vrnlths next thing i got an email saying the flight is canceled. The faa is prohibiting u. S. Airlines from flying into or out of tel avivs airport. This is what got the airlines attention, a rocket landed within a couple miles of the airport in tel aviv. Hamas has a fundamental choice that will have a profound impact for the people of gaza. At the start, air strikes were aimed at the hamas members. Now artillery shells are being fired at places of worship. 160 miles away, the bodies of the dead arrive by rail to a safe area of ukraine. The saddest of journeys awaits. For others, the waiting goes on. Inspectors discover wreckage has been interfered with. You understand the conflict remains conflicts in terms of who remains in charge. In which country . Which country are we . You tell me. Interfered with would be an understatement. Good morning, it is wednesday,
july 23rd. Welcome to morning joe. With us onset, we have msnbc contributor mike barnicle, former treasury official and morning joes analyst, and visiting professor of nyu, harold ford, junior, in washington, David Ignatius back with us and the editorial director of the national journal, ron fornier. Good to have you all in this morning along with willie and me. Did you see the white flags on top of the Brooklyn Bridge . I think one of the concepts is it could be some freak art. This is the other one that i think were all thinking about, isnt this kind of a security problem, that a group of people can climb to the top of the Brooklyn Bridge and change the American Flag to a white flag . Its pretty remarkable. Kind of mindboggling. When you think of traveling
the Brooklyn Bridge, you see a police presence. Given the surveillance cameras if it wasnt a cop on the beat. Its amazing they got up there and spent the time they spent up there. They covered the flood lights so they wouldnt be detected and switched out the flags. A lot of questions there. Also in new york, new rules for new york city cops given that beating and choke hold potentially related death. Thats coming up. Also, steve rattner, apple 7. 7 billion in a quarter. Thats like an hour for you. Thats a lot of money, mika. Big news, right . Well talk about that coming up. First, just this morning, secretary of state john kerry arrived in tel aviv on a military jet to pure sewer a ceasefire between israel and hamas. No u. S. Flights going to israel after a rocket damaged some homes nearby. No serious injuries. The move has stranded tourists
and israel has pressured the u. S. To restore service. In a show of solidarity with the jewish state, former new york city mayor Michael Bloomberg announced hes flying israel based Airline El Al to tell ave. Vooef. A victory for hamas, hurting israels economy and reputation for security. Far more real is the death and destruction in gaza. Two more Israeli Soldiers were killed while the death toll for civilians topped 600. Ambulance crews must wait for victims to be brought to them. Reporter between energy calls, this medic checked his supplies. He says he cant go where hes needed most. We get calls that there are injured there and bleeding to death, he said. But we cant go in. Last time he did manage to get
in, this is what he found. First a face like a corps. Then she moved and breathed. This 24yearold had been buried under the debris of her home before as sams team rescued her. Shes in critical condition, badly burned and appears to be slipping in and out of consciousness. Reporter a doctor tells us all of her family was killed. They dont expect her to survive. Thats incredible. Meanwhile the Washington Post reports in the west bank israel is beginning to demolish homes belonging the the relatives of palestinians accused of violence. David ignatius, what are john kerrys options at this point . I think secretary kerry wants above all to try to negotiate a ceasefire. The recent development of this rocket from hamas landing near the airport and suddenly closing
off at least u. S. And european air travel to israel makes the situation more urgent. It also illustrates the asymmetries in this conflict. Hamas only has to get lucky once with a rocket like this that wasnt targeted at aircraft, but came close to the airport to change the seeming balance in the conflict. Secretary kerry is working hard on the ceasefire. The question is what is the ceasefire going to accomplish that past cease fires have not . As the death toll mounts in this war people will demand more achievements in the days of fighting, and they may be reluctant to accept another ceasefire that leaves hamas as strong politically as it was. Standing by amen mo ha dean with the latest. Take it away. Mika, weve been hearing the sounds of intense shelling, the
continuous dumping sound that palestinians have been hearing day after day. We heard the sounds of launches from gaza into israeli. We also did get con fir makes that there were sirens in israel. It alludes to the point that 15 days into the conflict, its still in full swing on both sides. Hamas has rockets, has demonstrated a tremendous amount of stamina on the ground with this ground offensive that has now killed 29 Israeli Soldiers, thats triple the number of soldiers israel lost in the 2008, 2009 campaign. Hamas says it will not stop until all of its demands are met and the chief among those demands is that the siege be liflted. Theres no indication that israel is going to do that. Meanwhile the humanitarian situation on the ground continues to worsen by the hour. The United Nations saying more than 100,000 taking refuge at schools. The death toll has climbed above 600. The shelling today tends to be targeted in the southern part of gaza, similar scenes with whole neighborhoods being devastated and thousands pushed out. Ayman, its good to see you this morning. We heard David Ignatius talking about john kerry wanting to work a ceasefire. If you look at yesterday, the representative says she sees no possibility for a ceasefire. What does it look like from where youre standing. Do you see any willing chbs from hamas to even consider the possibility of a ceasefire . Reporter the central issue has been over the past seven
years this is the third war. None produced a tangible improvement on the ground for palestinians. They feel that have suffered and sacrificed so much, there is surprisingly a slight support for the on going operation, although they paid such a heavy price, they feel this is the only time and the only way they can get the International Community to try to lift this siege and blockade once and for all. What we see is when there is a truce and ceasefire that holds, either side violates it, ultimately leading us down the road of confrontation once again. This time around, they feel if its not addressed from day one, if the siege is not lifted from day one, they will be back as weve seen in the past couple years. Ayman, thank you very much. Real quickly, steve rattner, mayor bloombergs trip purely symbolic. Was he going . The mayor, as you know, is a forceful person and also a very, very strong supporter of israel. He took very personally the idea that these flights were going to be banned in israel. We can talk about why they were banned. From israels point of view, its a very important negative, symbolic image that you cant even fly to israel on an American Flag carrier. And he said in typical bloomberg fashion, hell with it, im going. He used not used to flying with strangers, but that shows how committed he is to this trip. We want to get to the latest on Malaysia Airlines flight 17 now. Investigators are finally at the site where the plane went down. They have already made a stunning discovery. They say key pieces of evidence including the cockpit and fuselage were cut in half with saws. U. S. Intelligence Officials Say the satellite images show increased traffic at a Russian Military base believed to be helping the rebels, and this photo appears to show a
surfacetoair missile launcher making its way back from ukraine to russia. Intelligence officials tell nbc news theres currently no direct evidence that russia, quote, pulled the trigger, they say russia has continued to support the rebels even after the plane went down. Meanwhile, russian president Vladimir Putin again struck a defiant tone in a Foreign Policy speech. He blamed ukraine for escalating the conflict before heading west on a fundraising trip president obama visited the Dutch Embassy in washington to remember the nearly 200 victims from the netherlands. He says americans are heartbroken and vowed there will be justice. The president also called the Prime Minister amid criticism that he would be looking for political donations here at home amid growing crises overseas. I can understand all the trappings, but theres no concern that, yes, he can have these calls. His schedule is basically
dominated by fundraising this week. Maybe the public schedule that you see. What are we not seeing . What will be clear to you as the president goes through the next several days is that he will be paying all of the necessary attention to make sure that american ainterested are represented. He can do that through phone calls, conversations with staff in washington, around the globe or traveling with him along the west coast. Former president bill clinton says whoever shot down flight 17 is seeking a divided world. He made the comments at an aids conference in australia where several of the planes passengers were scheduled to appear. The loss of our colleagues and more than 290 others in what appears to have been a deliberate act is a stark reflection of the negative forces of our interdependent,
people who dont want a future of inclusive economics, inclusive governance, inclusive communities. Mike . David ignatius, given the preponderance of the evidence the United States has, the intelligence the United States has with regard to the shootdown of the plane, what do you call for the seemingly slow motion outrage that has been building toward this, and what do you account for the fact that europe seems unable to express the outrage that you find commonly among people here in the sidewalks of the United States of america . Well, i think first the europeans are scared of the kind of confrontation that theyre heading toward with russia. Theyre scared on the level of their dependence with Russian Energy. Theres no way they can get through the winter without russian gas supplies. Theyre scared about the idea of a war on the european continent, something they thought was a fact of the past. Id say the last few days ive been watching Vladimir Putin, the russian president , squirming a little bit under pressure from the u. S. , from simple intelligence facts of the case even as russian propaganda puts up wild conspiracy theories. The evidence that people can see mounts day by day. Its interesting putin disappeared for a couple days when he came back and gave a speech yesterday, it was someone restrained, less truculent, liss belligerent that hes been in the past. The New York Times found him as perhaps preparing to back away from his earlier position. Well have to see about that. I think its not inconceivable that the europeans, especially the dutch, as the bodies come home, as people emotionally deal with the reality of this tragedy may get a little tougher in their response. So id be careful about freezing
the image as of today and saying nothing is going to happen. Harold good morning. Harold ford. Clearly Vladimir Putin developed a thug gish image in the eyes of many policymakers. I guess my question for you is what is the motivation for him and for his government to not run away or not attack and criticize what happened with the bringing down of this plane. What does he gain from appearing to be behind this . Hes done nothing to disabuse the dominant narrative and the dominant portrait that russia was behind the gunning down of this plane . I think a lot of this is basic politics. Putin has been more popular than ever in the last few months as hes been so belligerent in ukraine. Hes created a narrative that the russian people seem to be swallowing, that they are these brave russianspeaking separatists in ukraine fighting
against a terrible fascist government and theyre doing the right thing for mother russia. This stuff goes down well at home. So if hes trying to move the narrative even a little bit to get back toward International Legitimacy to create sanctions which, if they come, could really cripple russia, hell have to do it slowly so the russian public goes with him. Ron fornier, youve been critical of the president s leadership on a variety of issues. Hes getting criticism this week for the schedule hes keeping with fundraisers out west as we heard in the Briefing Room yesterday. What more couldnt obama be doing in rards to this russianukraine crisis right now . I dont know. On the first part of it, look, the job of the president follows the president wherever he goes. Practically speaking, it doesnt matter where he is, whether hes at a fundraiser or at the white house, he can get the practical part of the job. Theres a symbolic part of the job thats very important. What bothers me about the white
house is when it suits the purposes they dismiss the symbolic part of it. When it serves their purposes, they embrace it. The broader question, i think he has an opportunity here. Putin, first of all, seized crimea is a very bold and internationally unlawful way. Then his people have by all evidence reached into the sky and plucked 300 lives from this earth. If europe, despite everything that david said which is totally accurate, if europe cant get upset at them now and the president cant use this to rally europe behind some really tough sanctions that can really hurt putin, i dont know when they possibly could. Thats the issue. My father was talking about this yesterday, David Ignatius just talked is about it. European countries have drawn up plans for further sanctions against russia, but theyre not necessarily eager to implement them because the eus close economic ties with moscow leave many countries walking a very fine line between outrage and
their own selfinterest when it comes to their bottom line. We talked about oil. Oil giant shell is an example, the Largest Corporation in the netherlands. Dutch Pension Funds are heavy invested in the companys stock, so any disruption in shells business dealings with russia could significantly impact teachers, Civil Servants and other workers in the netherlands. Steve rattner, youve got charts that are other examples as to why europe might be hesitant to be completely unified and slap russia with the toughest of sanctions right away which is the problem. To follow on what david was saying, if you look at the facts between the trade of europe and russia and u. S. And russia, you see the stark differences animating the differences in policies. The u. S. , for example, is a very modest trader with russia. You can see its only about 1 of our trade with russia whereas for the europeans its 12. 3 of
their trade with russia. This is on the import side. On the export side, 6. 9 for the europeans versus. 5 for us. All told, 9. 5 of europes trade is with russia versus. 8 of ours. You look at the anecdotal stuff going on, 30 of german gas comes from russia. Italy is trying to build a gas pipeline to russia. The french are building two amphibious ships. And there are soldiers in russia being trained to run those ships. Hands are tied. If you close in on russia and youre germany, you could lose access to the energy that you need. Its a mutually assured economic destruction kind of situation. You could lose their energy which is most of what they get from russia. You can see on this next chart that the impact actually varies pretty widely. The netherlands, oddly enough, has amongst the biggest trading
relationship with russia. Remember, the netherlands lost the equivalent of 9 11 in terms of their population. The population relative to ours, they lost a huge number of people. It will be interesting to see how they balanced that out. I mentioned italy and the pipeline, germany and their gas. The us which has been very standup has a lot of financial ties to russia through their banks. France, as i mentioned, is building destroyers. If you look at what is actually traded between europe and russia, you can see again the mutual dependency these two places have. The eu imports essentially Raw Materials and energy. That is really what comes from russia for all practical purposes to the eu. What they send to the eu which are these blue bars here you can see are machinery and trance porpts, chemicals, manufacturing goods, huge amounts of european experts, huge amounts of european jobs are at stake. Thats why the europeans are talking about, well, lets ban people from coming from the eu. The uk particularly given that they do have stuff at stake has been very loud. All im saying is it would be great for the europeans to stand up. It would be easy for us to lecture them. We have a little bit less at stake. Theres a headlines today in the Financial Times that says eu scuppers russia sanctions. Does this come down to the germans and the french and dutch worrying about if theyre going shut off the heat like a landlord . Thats a big piece of it. As i said, it goes both ways. They want their gas. They want their energy, but they also want to sell stuff to russia because thats what creates jobs in their country. Russia doesnt make a lot. A lot of their manufactured go