you have a good active program in china right now, also in russia, in india. and just last week, the u.s. approved its first nuclear reactors built by the southern company in georgia. probably going to take three to four years to get those complete. i think if nothing else, those two reactors won't consume a tremendous amount of uranium, but it could improve the sentiment around the nuclear story here in north america. >> how do i buy uranium? if richard fisher's got a quarter million dollars in uranium related assets, what's the best way to do that right now, if i want to follow suit? >> one of the best ways is camico in saskatchewan, canada, the largest producer of uranium on a gloeblg basis. i think that's the easiest, safest way to play it. we've already seen one transaction occur in the last two or three months. given the low prices and the attractive valuations, you could see further m & a in the uranium base. >> raymond, how would you play it right now? >> there are several arguments you could make against equities. they often have problems starting up,

outside of russia and the mideast, this is a major problem. to the extent that people wanted markets to be the growth end, how sensitive in a place like korea and south korea and turkey, these are major oil importers and do you think they are starting to have an effect on their central policy and monetary policy? >> i think it's going to hurt their growth and we are calculating so it's a noisy number and you are right to highlight that the middle east and russia will highlight. china and more developing economies have a 1-1 relationship. they need oil to generate the economic growth. the u.s. economy is growing with falling oil demand that told you we are not being driven by oil-intense economic output. with china and other markets, you need that growth. you said about a .25 effect and for every 10% move in oil, about a .35 effect for developing economies and a multiplier between the two. they begin to slow and the other begins to slow. i calculated that we go to about 130 or 140 and you are going to begin to crush those economies enough that

with the company in terms of focus, disciplines and expansion outside of europe into emerging markets, russia, south america. just about to open a new plant in north africa. i think it's a stock where if you start from a negative value, that's a pretty good place to start in terms of my book. and i'm starting to see a very strong move in that stock. and i think it can go further from here. >> mr. peak, great to meet you. thank you for joining us on "power lunch." stephen peak there from london. do you know reno? >> i do not in terms of financials, but i certainly know the company. >> oh, i see. okay. >> you were doing so well. >> i know. our week of power players continues tomorrow. we'll have an exclusive conversation with chief investment officer of global ax is portfolios at jpmorgan private bank. >> all right. coming up next, the man in line to become china's next leader is coming to the u.s. tomorrow. but is china still a smart investment play? so far this year shanghai's up 6%, but if you look one year over, we're down 16%. we'll talk about that when we come back. this new at&t 4g lte i

poland are going great, with the relationship we had with the exchange there, making some inroads in russia. south america is not just a brazil story. asia is not just a china story. i think the u.s. economy is doing better than we all think it s i'm an optimist about the global economy, as i said, i'm impressed what is going nonplaces like italy. i agree with what secretary geithner said earlier today but across europe it is tough right now. >> you had prime minister mario monti. >> impressive. great experiment, when you think about it, a group you have install forward specific amount of time saying do what you think has to be done, he is happy going back doing the right thing for the country, letting the politicians take it back after his time is up. i don't think mario has any interest in running for office. it is a great experiment. >> he doesn't care about politics, which is great. >> which is why he is willing to make the tough decisions. >> what do you see in terms of sentiment, investors there, are they risk averse? i know you are not a market timer you got a good feel for these thi

. >>> russia has post posted a pr drop, roche down 1.4% after missing fourth quarter outlook. the swiss with drugmaker is banking on new drugs releasing this year. they're plannin to acquire u.s. company lumina which will strengthen their position in the market. >>> and a former boss of the royal bank of scotland has been stripped of his nighthood. fred goodwin can no longer be called sir because of his role of the collapse in the bank of 2008 which led to a taxpayer bailout. he joins a motley crew who have lost their honors in the past. that includes rocketer mugabe, the zimbabwe president, and a british double agent an thopny wlunt. >>> around half of what we thought they were going to get for facebook, no final share price will be set for a while. that's left the door open for facebook to invest more money if they see investor demand. the company has chosen five underwriters, morgan stanley will take the lead with goldman, bank of america, jpmorgan, the others. morgan stanley has led several high profile ipos, including groupon and zing ya. 100 billion, no one has explained

vetoes from both china and russia follow reports they have bombarded the city of homs. chinese state media said western intervention lay behind the veto. >>> goldman sachs has cut ceo lloyd blankfein's stock bonus, the first since the financial crisis. a filing shows he was awarded $7 million in restricted shares. 44% from the $12.6 million in 2010. he didn't get a bonus in 2008 when they took government bailout money. profits fell 47% last year and it cut 2,400 workers amid lower trading and investment banking revenue and tighter regulation. >>> well, coming up next, the trading day ahead on wall street. and after that all important jobs report. we preview the week's earnings. [ male announcer ] even if you think you can live with your old mattress... ask me how i've never slept better. [ male announcer ] ...why not talk to one of the 6 million people who've switched to the most highly recommended bed in america? it's not a sealy, a simmons, or a serta. ask me about my tempur-pedic. ask me how i can finally sleep all night. ask me how great my back feels every morning.

compare the united states to russia and other areas that cisco is active in terms of doing business, and how do you agree cisco around the world? >> well, one of the things that i think you see in governments around the world, it's moved from a government philosophy where politics determines your economy. to the economy would determine your politics. maria, there's nothing more evident than that in what you heard from prime minister cameron at the world economic forum, and from chancellor merkel the same way. they are very pro-business. how do we work together, how do we create jobs. you heard the same thing from the canadian prime minister, and you hear the same thing from the asian leaders. so i think you're seeing business and government come together around the world, with the appropriate caveats in saying, how do we put this world back to work. i'd like to see us do that a little better in the united states. >> the stock has done very well in the most recent past. up 40% or so since early august. investors are watching. and they want to know what's most important to you. give us

people default -- russia defaulted. they come back. that's the way, but they can't because of the eu. >> it's a five to ten year project. >> but they can't. they're unable to. >> in this case. >> do you have any other unbelievably compelling script things is this. >> nothing in the script but i do have a comment on china because i saw a chart yesterday which surprised me. trivia question for the table. what percentage of our debt, u.s. debt, is owned by china? we always talk about how china owns us. >> between 25% and 30%. >> is it less? >> less. less than 15%. >> really? >> there's two different numbers and one of them was under 10%. but 9%, and i thought that was fascinating. >> that's been a change because of the fed getting so involved over the last few years. i think it use d to be closer t 25%. >> 50% of the debt is still hours. >> that's because we've been printing money. >> we talk about how china owns us and when you look at the charts -- >> are they number two and then japan? >> they are number two. in terms of just overall -

russia is starting to weigh in, warning this country should not in any way attack iran. and when you add all of those situations up, you're starting to see growing tension within the oil market. it's very supportive and bullish for the price right now. there's hope that sanctions are going to work in some form or fashion. but in the meantime, other people are worried about the worst possibly coming, bill. >> you know, the critical point is what iran would do in the strait of hormuz, whether they would try to block that critical area of transportation for oil. but there are those who feel not only with u.s. armed forces being able to stop that, but it wouldn't have that big an impact on the supply of oil. so you wonder how much the premium in oil is, merely just pure speculation, and not a true reflection of the fear of supply cut off in that area. >> you outlined the whole dilemma, to what degree do you discount in the worst, cutting off the strait of hormuz or something far worse, if there were some kind of attack, what would that mean overall for stability in the regio

you have russia up 20% in local currency. china up 7%. within asia you've had outperformance in taiwan up 14% to 16%. i think that's natural. when you look at europe, people are expecting a slowdown based on bank deleveraging and fiscal austerity. in the u.s. we're going to have strong but really sub trend growth, something in the 2.5% or 3% range. enough to buoy the global economy and to be a good destination to earn capital from the emerging markets. but the emerging markets are the growth space. the size of those markets, can you deploy capital effectively in the emerging markets. guys have had a great success doing that so far. >> the large global macro plays i think the biggest trade on january 1 was short the euro. >> right. >> have you read through the quarterly letters, year end letters, everybody wanted to be short the euro. do you get a sense that's the big sort of global one-off trade? >> it's easy off and performance of ect index which includes macro players suffered relative to other strategies in january because of the trade

bric, brazil, russia, india, china, and worst of all, we believed the banking system was when it was quick sand. we thought it was solid despite the peak in housing because we had no idea how widespread the fraud and recklessness were in that industry. $14 trillion worth of mortgages in question. yeah, those are the real numbers. we've been brainwashed into believing that houses never decreased in value, particularly over the long-term. didn't we all think that? man oh man were we wrong. you want to know just how wrong the market was in 2008? how about a pair of 44s to paint the picture? yeah. consider it. just when housing was beginning, bank of america should become the largest private owner of houses in this country traded at, are you ready? $44. at the same time, alcoa, the ultimate bric in construction play also stood at $44. you could buy a lot of rentals for that. can you imagine? now bank of america can't seem to go beyond much of $8, right? people are thrilled to see alcoa north of $10. talk about a difference what four years make. plenty of stocks have done nothing over tha

at the moment the company has a limited exposure to rapidly growing markets like brazil, russia, india, china and indonesia, don't know how much snow they get there. right now honda is the market leader in these areas and polaris beat the manufacturing plant in 2010, and last year the company began building out its distribution network and something that started paying off in the not too distant future and because it's coming off a very low base, it's extremely valuable and polaris doesn't have to deal with tough comparisons. the company does have some exposure to europe which makes up 10% of its offroad vehicle sales and it set off most of the volume weakness with price increases and they didn't lose market share and another snow mobile and all-terrain vehicle maker has also been on a tear lately, soaring 32% and polaris is the superior player in terms of its scale and the offerings and the excellence of management's execution. the dealer network for these power sports vehicles makes more money from polaris' products in part because polaris lets its dealers adjust orders twice per mon

>>> vladimir putin is currently speaking in russia pour up. we're keeping our eyes on that, what he has to say out of that. and as far as stocks are concerned, that's a big focus for investors. unilever one of the biggest losers this morning, is warning of challenging times ahead. you can see the stock down 3%. only beaten at the moment on that downward slide by as tra zen ka. julie has been out speaking to the ceo. what does he have to say for himself? >> he was quick to point out the slight drop that we saw in operating margins is significantly better than we've seen from a number of their competitors. he reiterated the growth just under 55% of the business. of course he did warn on the consumer outlook. and that's where the headlines are focused today. you can see the stock priced down 3% but you should put that in perspective after double digit outperformance versus the ftse over the last 12 months. now i did ask him about the consumer obviously and started by saying just what impact is the debt crisis going to have in europe and will they

the market up 8% year-to-date in the s & p, germany up 15, russia up 20 there are no knowns in this market. what will happen next, inflation will slow growth, if it does shall. >> where is this there inflation? >> let's agree to disagree, guys, we can go on all night probably. >> we should. >> no, actually, we shouldn't. until 6, then jim cramer comes on. moving to our next trade, one stock hire, microsoft surging to a four-year high. morgan stanley saying rebalancing of the s & p 500 could lead to another catalyst for microsoft to move higher. very interesting call here. >> it is an interesting call. i think it is a little bit late, frankly, since -- i will go back and say, we have talked about microsoft since it was a $24 stock saying rick spoke to you, spoke to jim cramer, carl on that morning as well, stayed is probably the cheapest stock out there we piggybacked that, said it is worthy of a look, nothing else, here we are at 31 1/2. what does that mean? stock traded 100 million shares, up 4%. 4% in microsoft, given the move you have seen the last four moments is huge, market cap quart

. >> they couldn't close a deal in russia. what is the strategy? what does this company offer future shareholders? >> it's trying to move more and more through. they're planning to increase their operations, planning to sort of try and find more. they know that at the end of the day you have to get the stuff out of the ground. you have to find the stuff, find the reserves. think back to how bg has performed, finding those reserves in brazil. that's what they want to do. he is obviously getting rid of the refining, some of the refineries, the low margin stuff, concentrating more on the high octane end of the market and that's, i think, what the market wants to see as well from bp. >> bp or shell, which one if you were choosing? >> on a relative basis i think i prefer bp. >> would you own either of them -- would you want to own either or prefer services? >> i still have no major. we hold funds but at the end of the day i think they both offer value still. bp is still the best opportunity. those numbers today weren't particularly brilliant underneath

and then if you look into europe into eastern europe, russia looks pretty attractive. >> you say the story of the year in fixed income is going to be the compression of the spread, right? did i get you right on that? >> yeah, you did. >> is that because government yields are going to go up? or high yields are going to come down? >> well, i'm hoping that government yields stay where they are and credit spreads drift in. >> drift in. >> and all the liquidity that's being supplied by the central banks encourages investors to come in off the sidelines. and that's what we've been seeing over the last couple of months. >> could you get stuck out far out on that yield curve if you go into some of the riskier assets and rates end up going up and other uncertainty that comes into the market? >> well, you could. and it depends on where you're investing. certainly if you go into government bonds or high grade investment grade corporates and things do reflat at a very rapid rate, yields will go up a lot more than credit spreads come in. but if you're looking at in the investment grade side, the

but they have that in russia. it is probably doing very severe winter kill damage to the winter wheat crop. that's put it into the wheat market. then you have on the other side down in south america, unbelievably hot temperatures in argentina and brazil and drought conditions which have diminished the size of those crops. so you have diminished crop sized in south america and russia which put a bid to the grain markets. probably going to take prices still higher. >> so very bullish fundamentals for the grain market. then we see podesh and mosaic saying they use -- is there something else going on? >> i think something else is going on there. i think what you're seeing is the better use of computer technology, gps systems. now instead of having someone go out to the corn crop not knowing how that acreage looks out there, all you see a around the corner. and you used to apply nitrogen and fertilizer to the worst possible levels. now you have a seeing eye coming down looking from the sky on a gps system, sending a si

>> for russia, as we said, the oil and gas revenues are important. the russian government every year puts about $300 billion in the pocket which is very good. but the pocket as a has a hole, a small hole. they use energy in a very inefficient manner. it is lower than mid african countries. so if srussia would solve this problem, the hole would be closed and russia would save an additional $70 billion in energy which can be easily exported to the other countries. >> reporter: let's talk about the dynamics of the international gas market. >> i think it is a revolution started in the united states and now in australia and china, has a double effect for russia. on the one hand it is good because gas is becoming more and more important and russia being the largest exporter and producer is the good news. but on the other hand if shale gas in the united states remains so cheap and so many volumes are coming into the market, may very well be an exporter in the future and at the same time if china potential new major client for russian gas may also increase i

the short run, but, as we know from argentina and many other countries that have been there including russia and others, there is a way out of debt and there is a way back including back to foreign private financing. big, big decisions, i think, for the next greek government to take. i suspect that's the way it's going to go in the end. >> all right, george, we'll leave it there for now. you'll continue to stay on with us as our guest host. george magnus. let's take a look at the bourses, mostly higher ahead of the liquid. a little bit of optimism coming into the market today. the nikkei 225 is up 0.92%. triggered negative sentiment but investor fought back after they felt maybe some of the stocks were oversold. the topic clawing back. shanghai composite up, marginal gains. the banks led the way higher on a report that china has softened its line on local government financing allowing banks to issue loans to government projects more than 60% complete. so that seems to be a softening when it comes to local government debt and dealing with local government issues. the hang seng is up 1.7%. the

the forms of repression in russia are pretty severe. he still controls the institutions of the state. having said that, pretty encouraging. these russians are brilliant physicists, mathematicians, ballet, literature. they're remarkable people. they deserve some freedom to apply their creativity. and putin clearly is moving toward reestablishment of a totally authoritarian government. it's a great comment on the russian people that they're finally reacting to this. >> and if this happens, we've learned this in other places, not in russia, but we've learned in other places, although once upon a time we learned it in the old soviet union toward the end. if putin is losing control, if he is losing control of voters, if he is losing control of citizens, if the demonstrations grow, how much trouble is he going to be? how much will the army support him? how much will the military support him? what the chance of major unrest? >> remember, the army did finally support the people, yeltsin, the last time this came to a confrontation. but again, i

united states could be the largest producer of oil in the world surpassing saudi arabia, surpassing russia, and the reason for that is the shale boom in the united states, allowing the industry to get access, allowing the industry to move forward under appropriate regulation. not burdensome regulation. as we grow production -- >> larry and bruce, what's the cost of that? how many -- what's the risk to our climate? what's the risk to our water shed for doing that? >> i can't go down that road tonight. i want to establish -- we almost had common ground on mr. obama marching towards republican energy policy. we're almost good on there. thank you, gentlemen. the next question on this whole theme is whether high oil and gasoline prices are going to sink the economy because, as we just learned, it's iran, and it's the traders iffing long on the supply shortages from the gulf -- from the strait of hormuz. there's nothing we can do about this in the short run. i actually agree with president obama on that. let's talk to cnbc contributor joel of deutsche bank and michael pento president of pento po

at a zoo in central russia and his keepers say he's a real kung fu master. the bear likes to play with a martial arts staff rocking it from side to side and around his neck. got to love this, right? joe, do you know how to do this? >> i haven't seen any real impressive moves. i thought it was on a loop. have you seep this before? >> i have not seen this before although i saw an image of it yesterday. >> the kung fu panda. ♪ oh! [ baby crying ] ♪ what started as a whisper ♪ every day, millions of people choose to do the right thing. ♪ slowly turned to a scream ♪ there's an insurance company that does that, too. liberty mutual insurance. responsibility. what's your policy? ♪ amen, omen >>> welcome back, everybody. take a look at the u.s. equity futures. right now the dow is looking sharply higher on the open. it looks like we'll open up 48, 49 points. the s&p is indicated higher by six points. in our headlines on this tuesday morning, yahoo! is demanding lie sen licensing fees including technical mechanisms in facebook's ads, privacy controls, news

emerging markets including china and some of their other growth markets outside like india, other asia, russia and africa. so those are growing as a percentage of the base. certainly they're going to be higher in a few years. i think we've done the perform analysis in a few years, that 60%, 65% can become three-quarters emerging markets. this is by far the most emerging market oriented name in my coverage, one of the top among its megacap peers. one of the things that's really good about this company, they don't have the exposure to europe. >> that's where i was going to go next. >> on top of that, they're actually selling down that exposure by licensing out the uk pizza hut business this year. a major positive. >> you're optimistic about the fact many of the emerging markets have had a pretty good start to the year as well, up double digits in some of the key emerging markets as well, right? >> right. even among emerging markets i think folks can see there's less of a slowdown in asia emerging markets, particularly china, versus maybe certain latin american emerging markets. once again geogra

without america playing, wouldn't be strong without europe playing, but increasingly see buyers from russia, the middle east, parts of asia, parts of south america. >> china? >> china of course. >> you see them in the auction? >> absolutely. and we see a market right now that's extremely smart. even the newer buyers are very quick to learn, very quick to get good advice. we see a smart market. and also an absolutely robust even intrepid market. >> contemporary art, post war and contemporary, was very, very hot last year. asian art was very hot last year. do you see those trends continuing? you first then you. >> absolutely. they'll definitely continue. >> i agree 100%. but you use the word investing. people who look at art just as an investment lose. art is something you have to not only -- it's like investing in the stock market. there are many stocks. you have to know which ones -- you have to have a passion for it. and one of the things i've seen over and over again these people say it's easy, just put money in, the piece goes up. >> that's like a lot of things. i think if you try too ha

food inflation, the biggest part of the inflation basket, you're going to see possibly 4% inflation in russia this year, which is record levels. brazil will go 1.25 probably on inflation, which allows the central bank to continue to cut rates. ultimately this is a retail trade. ultimately this is an opportunity for people to get into emerging markets and ride this trade. what i would say is currencies have rallied 8% to 10% already this year, you may want to watch for a pullback, technically i think things look a little rich. >> so in terms of a specific retailer, can you point us in any directionisms the biggest retailer is ticker cdb, largest food and electronics player. in mexico, mexico has seen a major resurgence in the home building market. we've seen better numbers out of the states, but the mexican peso has been rallying off the charts. home ex, hmx, is another way to play that, and gives you the opportunity -- as much as i like em banks, the consumers will do better in this falling inflation, at the banks will suffer. banks are good, retailers are better. >> tim, good to see you. >>

let's talk about russia. a third of your sales are in russia. it's been a weakening market. are things going to get any better there this year? >> if you look at our business in northwestern europe, very solid performance. asia very strong growth. you're right, russia has been challenging in 2011 and some of the key factors here has been a price increase in the beer category but also very high inflation on food products and that has negatively impacted consumer behavior in our category and, therefore, we are looking at a decline in the category of around 3% in 2011. we do expect because of some of the fundamentals in the russian economy and also the much lower inflation expected for 2012 that the category at some point in time will return to growth during 2012. >> you are looking to take full control of your shrussian arm a i understand that your 2012 forecast doesn't account for that. if that happens, houcht of a difference will it make to that forecast? >> it won't as much make a difference for 2012 but it's the intent to buy minorities, a voluntary offer. that's what we p

even russia is indicating they may participate in some of the funding, and there's a lot of currency reserves in these countries. i think through the imf would be the most likely scenario. if you do get a very strong safety net there, there's no reason these countries couldn't invest directly as well. >> all right, patrick. good to have you on. plenty to get through. let's bring up global markets. christine? >>> well, here in asia, mostly low lower. once again oil prices going to a certain level. starting to weigh on concerns. people are wondering whether that will choke global growth. off 0.1%. but the down side was capped by strength in the exporters which got a lift are and the topix is up. over in shanghai 0.3%. now this market is interesting because the carmakers apparently led the way higher after china came out with a list of vaex approved for purchase by state agencies and it ex claweded foreign banks so it's giving local carmakers a lift this this particular market. hang seng profit taking going on. still holding on to the key 21,000 level, watching hsbc, of course, a little

russia? >> how do you keep a 747 secret? hide it in your backyard? >> i know someone who would take a helicopter to his 747 if he was family. it's likely it was the state of -- how do you say that? >> qatar. qatar. >> you say qatar for 50 years. after 50 years it goes from qatar to qatar. whatever. gadhafi, is it "k"? is it "q"? is there a "u"? that's one of the few words, though, without a "u." "q"s without "u." >> qantas, but that stands for something. >> you're right. >> you know that. the 747 is the rj last commercial airliner. there was a development delay of more than a year. >> and we now have an unbelievable cnbc exclusive this morning. it was very exciting for those of you who watched the social network, facebook. eduardo saverin has just spoken with us. it happened at the ypo global leadership conference in singapore. the they just launched an exclusive partnership. ypo is made up of 19,000 business executives on the front lines of the economy from 190 countries. the company generated $6 trillion. that's with a "t." brian williams is live i

states sends the message as we're doing that we have to pursue the sanctions, let them ride out, i think russia and china have hurt themselves enormously by their veto on syria, so i think our influence in the region is expanding. >> governor, to don's point, this idea of a secret attack, isn't that what's already been happening with some of the nuclear scientists there or the supposition that's been happening in. >> there's no question that israel has, and any country has to act in their legitimate self-defense but an attack on iran's nuclear facilities would be i think explosive, would be -- >> if you were israel and you're sitting there and you've got all these forces working against you and not a whole lot of support coming from anywhere, what would you do? >> i would let diplomacy work. i would work with the united states. i would continue to allow the sanctions to bite iran, which they're doing significantly, especially now that they're moving into the oil area. this move on the central bank affects oil revenues. i think that iran is going to be seeing its leverage diminish. the saudis ha

russia is now warning, of course, catastrophic consequences if there is a military attack on its middle eastern ally. increasing tensions have an impact on global financial markets. cnbc reporters are in place all over the world to help you understand what exactly the iranian crisis means for your money. well, we've got jane wells in los angeles, with the potential effects on defense companies. sharon epperson has the latest on the oil prices. and we start with michelle caruso-cabrera in jerusalem with what iran may be capable in terms of an attack on the shipping complex. >> israel is about 950 miles from iran. and iran is believed to have solid fueled rockets, that means they can be hidden in silos and fired very quickly. they also have missiles by all accounts, that can hit all american troops in the middle east, all over israel and parts of europe. some of the most dangerous missiles are long-range, which can be used to attack shipping in the persian gulf and straits of hormuz. the range, 125 miles. iran has small ships that practice swarming techniques. the goal would be to overwhe

the only part of europe that seems a little strong to me is russia, calling it out as a strong market. >> 3m, cut to hold over valuation? >> you know what? i have seen a dramatic number increase in this year of valuation downgrades that makes very little sense to me. >> remember, another theme park, remarkable increase in dividends and yet sells -- 10% yield, cedar fair is the play when it comes to the great american scream machine kind of activity. >> we heard from phil lebeau earlier this morning on ford. erie took looking at auto sales and what it might do. >> i think auto sales, the subtle movement here is 14 million, going to 14.5 million, maybe as high as 16, volkswagen saying watch union pacific, it's the one that's most levered to the automotives. everyone's worried about the transports not confirming the dow, carl, that's because coal is so much a railroad is coal, union pacific the winner, csx, not, norfolk southern not. >> i don't know if they're on the other side of the floor yet or not. >> we're keeping conversation when it comes to greece. the key component is we don't k

he is being armed and supported by russia, perhaps others. the armed opposition as opposed to the civilian operation is increasingly also resulting to violence and self-defense. that is not a dynamic that is in the interest of the people of syria or the wider region. so before we start talking about military options, we very much want to ensure that we have exhausted all the political, economic and diplomatic means at our disposal. >> joining me now from washington, brigadier general mark hemmet, state of affairs. he also served as deputy secretary for middle east affairs. kenneth, nice to see you. i also want to begin with this just in case scenario. what options do you think are on the table right now for president obama on just how to proceed regarding syria? >> there are still plenty of options on the table, both diplomatic. some measure of military qualification, of course, with the pre s-syrian army. then you need to tra, r you would unilaterally -- some people have problems. >> the general there are a lot of voices. why not do the same

. >> iran and its support from china, maybe from russia, could drop into the gulf capabilities, trigger mechanisms that we heretofore have not seen. >> reporter: we believe they may have smart mines that could detect the size of a tanker and then go off? >> proximity types of passage, disruption, water type of movement, signals, absolutely. >> reporter: iran did deploy troops from several islands in the shipping lanes. nations like saudi arabia get 60% of their drinking water from desalinization plans in the gulf. that could be prime targets to sabotage. >> you start thinking about a shortage of drinking water or perhaps a few oil spills that contaminate the water and cause a disruption in the food supply. it's one of the reasons, candy why the u.s. is rushing to get this mother ship on the to the area where they can quickly deploy special operations forces, get the mine sweepers out there. those aren't the assets you bring to some big battle like we saw in world war ii in the pacific form it's what you use for the low-level warfare. >> is there muscle flexing going on here on either si

this is all russia's fault. the last time the u.n. did nothing they gave the green light and okay to kill more. it was the first time that he used rocket launches after the u.n. he felt safe. they gave him the okay. >> why do you think they want to intervene? what's stopping them? >> they think our blood is like water. they want to trade our blood with something. >> still ahead, fighter jets intercept a plane flying in restricted air space. details on that. >>> what could have happened on christmas day of 2009 if the so-called underwear bomber wasn't caught. >>> who caught tourists by surprise at the white house today. lemon burst, hm, cherry orchard, blackberry harvest... my daughter's grabbing some yoplait. pina colada, orange creme. i can't imagine where she is... strawberry cheesecake. [ grocery store pa ] clean up in aisle eight. found her! [ female announcer ] yoplait original. 25 flavors for you to love. it is so good. why does my mouth feel dryer than i remember it to be? there are more people taking more medication, so we see

china and russia are the reason they voted against it. meanwhile, syrians scrambling every minute with the sky hailing on them. it seems that way, anyway, with constant shelling. cnn can't confirm the details because syria has restrictions on journalists. we do have some live in washington. we talk about the latest on the american reaction to this international crisis. the decision to close the embassy obviously not taken lightly. it does send a diplomatic message. but it was also done for safety reasons. >> reporter: it was. in fact, what the state department is saying is that they've now for weeks have been asking the syrians to protect that embassy better. the embassy is located very near a busy street, and what they wanted was either for the street to be shut down or some type of barricade put up or both, because what they are worried about, michael, they said, was al-qaeda or al-qaeda-like attacks. there was no specific threat, but they were very worried about that because there had been some car bombings previously. and that was not

russia has called for veto. china has gone for veto. the rest of the world are condemning this veto. and what else -- looking at us -- the world is watching us so silently. we are getting killed every moment. we are not able to get some basic medicine to injured people, children are really hungry. i swear, children are hungry. no power, no fuel, it's too cold. it's too much. for god's sakes, this is too much. >> that is so touching. russia's foreign minister is in syria today for an emergency meeting with president assad. the russians say they have a proposal that could end the crisis in syria. they have not yet revealed it. >>> here's your chance to talk back on one of the big stories of the day. everybody is still talking about the clinton eastwood commercial that aired during the super bowl. a lot of people think this commercial had a political message behind it. carol costello, a little bit more about all of that. it's interesting because some people don't know which way it fell politically. some people think it was for obama. other

ben in boston writes -- russia and china would probably support a cease-fire monitored and enforced on all sides by an international force. i would try a nonmilitary strategy like this first. i think we ought to stand down from further military involvement. susan writes, why not? the perfect prelude to iran waiting in the wings a few months from now, alas sometimes i think we should give up on everything else and become one gigantic military for hire state. as much trouble as there is in the world, we would be operating in the black in no time. if up to read more, go to my blog, or through our post on "the situation room's" facebook page. wolf? >>> all right, jack. thank you. >>> we're told others are simply waiting for their turn to die. this hour, a new clack that the bashar al assad is getting help. plus just when you may have thought this election year couldn't get any stranger, stand by. check out the attack on stephen colbe colbert. >>> we have an exclusive report on an outer space mystery. we want to welcome our viewers in the united states and around the world. breaking news, p

we are russia and china blocking a resolution the arab league wanted to have the u.n. security council call on president assad to step down. very tough language from secretary clinton and ambassador rice at the united nations about china and russia. sounded very much like the george w. bush administration before the war saying this is proof the security council doesn't work in today's world. the president and his team, do them have any good options here? >> the opposites are tough as well, john. the actions of the russians and chinese hit a new low of cynicism. they are allowing the assad government to go to battle with its own people. the resolution that was going to be voted upon in new york was a very moderate resolution. the united states can no longer depend on the security council because russia and china will block any reasonable resolution. we've got to do what the administration is doing, turn our attention to work with turkey, with saudi arabia and with the arab league. we have a good collection of partners there, all three of them have influence, all three o

russia and china could now be in the way of peace. u.s. ambassador susan rice will join us live this morning. all those story, much more ahead. "starting point" beginses right now. >>> whose ipod is that? >> i don't know. >> susan, it's yours? >> contributing editor to "van ""vanity fair"." >> oh, it's lady gaga, oh, that's my ipod. welcome. welcome as we put you on the spot right abap it's nice to have you. good morning. will cain is on your right, my left nice to see, you will cain. we spent the weekend together, as i did with roland martin. >> yes, we did. >> doing election coverage this weekend. nice to have you guys. appreciate it. president obama's re-election hopes rests heavily on whether the voters agree the economy has improved. the president said even though it's still on the mend he has earned another four years in office. this is what he told nbc's matt lauer in a sit-down that aired right before the sulk. >> i deserve a second term but we're not done. we created 3.7 million jobs over the last 23 months. we've created the most

russia opposing a call for regime change in syria. drafters of the proposal have made revisions and hope to put it to a vote as soon as possible. >>> the u.s. senate overwhelmingly approved an insider trading bill. it bans congress members and their staff from financially profiting from nonpublic information. >>> attorney general eric holder says firings and charges are underway for people who ran the fast and furious program. he's in the hot seat yesterday in congress. congressman darryl issa demanding he release documents on the gun running operation or face content of court. >> this committee has lost its patience to wait longer. we will not wait until next ground hog day to get answers for the american people. >>> the department of justice stands ready to work with you. not only to correct the mistakes of the past, but also to strengthen our law enforcement capacity in the future. >> fast and furious, as you know, put guns in the hands of mexican drug cartels. >> the fbi's no fly list has more than doubled in the past year. counte

>> it would probably be russia or france. back a couple of years ago we almost had a deal on this tehran research reactor. a deal was struck and then when it got back to iran it fell apart because of iran's domestic politics which as you know is often bitter and conflicted. in that original deal they were going to enrich it, france was going to fabricate the fuel plates. argentina could do it if it wanted to get involved. there are countries that could in theory do this. that's the direction we want to go to. we want them to cap it at 3 to 5%. we ought to take them up on that. >> jim walsh, thanks so much at m.i.t. there in cambridge. appreciate that. >>> this morning some good news for you and your wallet. timely, right? lawmakers have struck a tentative deal on extending the payroll tax cuts that are due to expire at the end of the month. that means working americans won't suddenly see more money siphoned from their take-home pay. christine romans is here to explain. christine, you've been crunching the numbers. how signifi

>> i can't speak for russia, richmond. our colleague ambassador durkin was negotiating in good faith. i think at the end of the day, decisions were made in moscow. moscow decided it would rather stand with assad against the people of syria than do the right thing. >> ambassador rice had strong words there the president's statement today very strong, as well. >> reporter: yes. the president of the united states issued a call for the council to act. this isn't the first time a u.s. president was ignored. russia is certainly flexing a more aggressive posture on the international stage. some dimple mats here said it's just about syria. the british diplomat. british ambassador called it a sad day for the security council. russia and china felt the retribution was unbalanced. russian ambassador explained to reporters about why they vetoed. >> i would certainly agree tragic events are happening in syria. security council, well, what happened, happened. let us hope working through other diplomatic tools we have, security council i

that range all the capitals of europe, like london, paris, madrid, rome, even the southern part of russia, they started to act. the iranians are trying to develop even longer missile with longer range of 10,000 kilometers that can come here to the states. so the world now is more determined to fight them back. the sanctions that were imposed by the european union recently are much tougher than those light sanctions that was imposed by the security council. and i believe that if those sanctions will include the iranian as well as the central bank of iran and those sanctions will be imposed by the european union, followed by the united states, canada, australia, japan, south korea, i believe that finally it might work. >> but does israel now and israelis, do they feel vulnerable because of the arab spring and the sense of perhaps all allies aren't quite as trustworthy as they once were. has it become a problem for you? >> every one of us, it doesn't matter if you're israelis, americans, europeans, we are in favor of those people that are asking for freedom, for human rights, for liberty. un

it's made its decision to stand. >> there are consequences to the relationship with russia if they're not willing to at least help use their influence to provide the aid? >> well, i mean, i think we've already seen some very clear disagreements played out in public between us, but at this point we're doing everything we can to marshall public opinion internationally, and work with neighbors in the region to try to get that humanitarian aid in. >> so deb, what she's trying to do is peel that inner layer away from president assad, from the military, from the regime, even from his family, and she says that there's some evidence that his inner circle is starting to think about the day after, but as we've seen so far president assad not balking, and russia not really ready to use their influence on him. >> right. you know, one of the key issues with syria is just a strategic location that fortfied lebanon, turkey, israel. secretary clinton was meeting with a group of very influential people, and she basically said she thinks president obama will be re-elected. is that to reassert sort of t

>> russia -- syria is russia's biggest ally in the middle east. they are home to the last remaining naval base in the mediterranean. they are a big training partner with russia. they have a $500 billion deal for airplane parts. they are an important strategic and economic ally and russia doesn't want to give that up, the foothold in the middle east. it's a strategic play for russia. they have elections coming up next month. putin doesn't want to seem weak with the west. >> at some point, with all this video coming out and the world watching this, doesn't it put russia in a precarious condition, yeah, they want to help out their buddy and partner, but to what end? >> certainly, it becomes more and more embarrassing. it's the strategy you see with the u.s. and the west. you bring up resolution after resolution forcing russia to say look, this is getting bad. it's a humanitarian crisis. do you want to support this guy, assad? the last time they brought up the resolution last week, russia vetoed it, you saw the foreign minister with harsh comments abo

russia and china will deal with that. they've got syrian blood on their hands. this is all their fault. last time the u.n. did nothing, they gave the green light and the okay to assad to kill more. it was the first time that he used rocket launches after the u.n. he felt safe. they gave him the okay. >> nick peyton walsh is live for news beirut this morning. what is the latest this morning? >> reporter: this morning, again, heavy shelling in homs. we're hearing five dead from that shelling this morning. and actually has dawn broke, nine bodies found across cities. the death toll there continuing. interestingly, though, a separate development to the east of where i'm standing here in beirut, a town which had been held by the opposition for a period of time and then some kind of pause in fighting with the army took place in which the army used to move into the town, take it over again. we're now understanding it's under a strong grip. this morning clashes again apparently breaking out in that particular area spop yesterday's u.n. resolution having very little impa

resolution was vetoed by russia and iran, the assad government has begun to kill its own people at -- with increasing frequency. hundreds since then. i think it's time to try to help the brave syrian freedom fighters to carry out a fair fight. and i think it's time to give them help. medical help first, and then i'd give them training, i'd give them communications equipment, and then ultimately i'd give them weapons because -- >> from the u.s., are you talking? in what -- >> part of an international coalition since russian -- >> libya? >> since the russians and the chinese have vetoed u.n. action, we've got to form a coalition of the willing. and that will now include the arab league and the gulf countries and turkey. >> but for people did listen if you look at polling now about what the u.s. did in libya, which was not to commit a single ground force and take a backseat in the flyovers, even almost half of americans still didn't want us do that. >> yeah. >> so we're talking about an environment where people just don't see a need for the u.s. to get involved. so, describe to me what i

that both china and russia are very worried about the precedent of people power. the russians are facing street demonstrations in moscow so the whole idea of what's happening in syria has repercussions for what's happening there. the united states has real limits on what it can do with either of them but it can keep the noise up in terms of saying this is unacceptable in the 21st century. it can begin to work with the syrian opposition which has been very disjointed. there are three parts of it. you have the exiled opposition that includes a wide array of groups. you have the internal opposition of local coordinating committees and you have the free syrian army, which is made up of defectors and one of the great problems is they do not speak with one voice. they don't have one plan. as long as you don't have an alternative that's beginning to crystallize, it will be very hard to get people in the military in syria to defect to get beyond the rule of thumb is you have to have 30% of support in order to stay in power and assad has that 30%. >> one of the big problem

without those images and considerable we cannot prove they're lying. >>. >> as mentioned, russia and china vetoed a u.n. security council resolution that would have demanded al assad stop the violence. they're slamming what they call the collective massacre and unicef also reports there have been deaths and injuries of hundreds of children, wolf. >> what a story, horrible, horrendous story unfolding. lisa, thanks. >>> our coverage continues next. the u.s. ambassador to the united nations, susan rice, has a tough message directly for syria's leader bashar al assad. >> your days are numbered, and it is past time for you to transfer power responsibly and peacefully. >> my one on one interview with susan rice. that's coming up next. >>> an army officer risks his job, breaks his silence to tell cnn what he's really seeing on the front lines of afghanistan, what he says the pentagon doesn't want you to know. >>> as we've been showing you, thousands are dead, tens of thousands wounded, many more have simply disappeared, along with the shocking images of slaughter. there are desperate appeal

they have russia, china in the security council, iran next door. and so when that gentleman says, if you don't get involved there will be oceans of blood, unfortunately the tragedy is that if we would get involved there would perhaps be even more blood. because there would be activism on all sides. already syria is turning into a kind of cockpit where there is a cold war between iran on the one side supporting the syrian government, saudi arabia on the other side supporting increasingly these militants who are either in syria or coming into syria. so when we talk about bloodshed, there will be a lot more bloodshed. that's not a reason not to support the opposition. because at the end of the day we want to do the right thing both politically and morally. but let's face it. getting more involved in iraq or getting more involved in afghanistan did not produce less bloodshed. it produced more. it wide, the war. >> it certainly would. i want you to listen here. i asked the republican candidates for president last night what they would do differently fro