reports of mass killings, summary executions and right now these al qaeda inspired militants are knocking on the door of the capital. 60 miles outside of baghdad. the iraqi military is disorganized and the makeshift reinforcements to the military haven t taken hold. there was a lot of confusion and the iraq government is confused and their response to the militants haven t taken effect. talks about u.s. airstrike and there is confusion about what who they would hit and particularly what the iraqi military might do enforce that. they are not unified and don t have a military together so how much they can push back is a big, big question. connor powell kicking us off.
if you go down the block to danetsk, you will see the same barricades you did last week. if you leave town and go into a number of occupied towns say an hour to two drive from here, it s the same number of pro russian check points along the way with their piles of tires and sand bags and armed militia men that you would have seen last week. there is one change to report, alex, it s that the militants haven t expanded their operations in the last couple of days. for the time being they seem to have kept the same number of check points, the same number of towns and buildings that they ve seized. there seems to be a very pregnant pause right now on both sides. the pro russian militants and the government in kiev waiting to see what the other does next. meanwhile, those pro russian militants say it s willing, they re willing to pull out of their positions but only if what they call the illegal hunta back in kiev starting with the prime
government even announced that today that it was suspending for several days that military offensive to reoccupy some of those occupied centers of state power like police stations and city halls in about 12 different towns during these holidays. in reality, melissa, that offensive has been such a major pr disaster for the ukrainian military that few really believe few think that the cease-fire will stop. part of the lull also, melissa, is that the pro-russian militants are just waiting to see what the other side is going to do next. separatist leaders have said that they re not pulling out of their positions, for instance, until the members of the kiev government resign, but it s also the case that these very same militants haven t expanded those checkpoints or seizures of buildings now for several days. meanwhile, the first osce official that arrived here in
in a legally occupying government buildings. it s also the case those same militants haven t expanded those check points for several days. meanwhile, news here today is that a top says it sees no indication that pro-russian militants have the will to deescalate the situation, unless, of course, russia pushes them. but that isn t happening yet. back to you. jim, thank you. now to washington where the white house has made a decision not to make a decision on the keystone xl pipeline. the administration is giving agencies more time to submit views on whether the project is in the nation s best interest. nbc s kristen welker is live for us at the white house. kristen, what s the reason that s been given behind this move? reporter: well, the state department is saying that the reasoning has to do with a legal dispute that is currently before
rejects the use of race or ethnicity or religion as a proxy for criminality. but for sure throwing police and resources at sur veiling a grade school for muslim girls can t possibly be the answer. it doesn t make it any safer and is lasting harm to the community. the rejection of race as a proxy for criminality. i want to play harry reid talking about mr. bundy and the language that he uses and then mr. bundy s response to harry reid and then get your response. let s listen to both of those. there were hundreds, hundreds of people from around the country that came there. they had sniper rifles on the freeway, they had assault weapon, they had automatic weapons. these people who hold themselves