>> it's one thing to sit around and talk about what the problems are, you know? but it's another thing to get off your behind and actually do something about it. that's what i'm about. >> ifill: that's all ahead on tonight's "newshour." major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: >> i mean, where would we be without small businesses? >> we need small businesses. >> they're the ones that help drive growth. >> like electricians, mechanics, carpenters. >> they strengthen our communities. >> every year, chevron spends billions with small businesses. that goes right to the heart of local communities, providing jobs, keeping people at work. they depend on us. >> the economy depends on them. >> and we depend on them. 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: president obama sought today to head off the palestinians' bid for recognition as a state by the united nations. he spoke to the u.n. general assembly for the third time since taking office. the president had made clear he would make middle east peace the focus of today's address. he set the stage by recounting what he called "a remarkable year," that saw the killing of osama bin laden, as well as arab spring uprisings that have brought down decades-old regimes dictators in libya, egypt and tunisia. >> something is happening in our world. the way things have been is not the way they will be. the humiliating grip of corruption and tyranny is being pried open. the promise written down on paper-- all human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights-- is closer at hand. >> brown: the president then turned to the israeli- palestinian conflict, acknowledging that, for many in the audience at the u.n., it stands as a key test of those principles. but the president acknowledged, the israeli-palestinian conflict more than any other has put those principles to the test. >> one year ago, i stood at this podium and called for an independent palestine. i believed then and i believe now that the palestinian people deserve a state of their own. but what i also said is that genuine peace can only be realized between israelis and palestinians themselves. one year later, despite extensive efforts by america and others, the parties have not bridged their differences. >> brown: fueled by that failure, palestinian authority president mahmoud abbas plans to ask the u.n. security council for formal recognition as a state. but president obama insisted that is the wrong path. >> and i am convinced that there is no short cut to the end of a conflict that has endured for decades. peace is hard work peace will not come through statements and resolutions at the u.n.. if it were that easy, it would have been accomplished by now. ultimately, it is israelis and palestinians who must live side by side. ultimately, it is israelis and palestinians, not us, who must reach agreement on the issues that divide them: on borders and security; on refugees and jerusalem. >> brown: the president did not mention the u.s. threat to veto palestinian statehood in the security council, if it comes to that. instead, he counseled a different role for the u.n., in the middle east. >> we will only succeed in that effort if we can encourage the parties to sit down together, to listen to each other, and to understand each others hopes and fears. that is the project to which america is committed. there are no shortcuts. and that is what the united nations should be focused on in the weeks and months to come. >> brown: later, the president met with israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu, and reaffirmed the u.s. commitment to israel's security. in turn, the prime minister said the american pledge to block recognition of a palestinian state was a badge of honor. president obama met with palestinian authority president abbas this evening. ray suarez is in new york to cover the u.n. meetings for us. i talked with him a short time ago. ray, start with the speech itself. in your opinion the room. what was the atmosphere? what was the reception? >> when an american president speaks to the general assembly of the united nations, jeff, every seat in the house is full. this morning was no exception. but compared to speeches earlier in barack obama's presidency, the reception for this one was fairly subdued. polite applause at the beginning and the end. the crowd knew that barack obama was going to try to do two very difficult things at once: both insist that the u.n. is highly effective and doing great things in the world and that it wasn't the place to work out the palestinian/israeli crisis. >> brown: so a lot of behind-the-scenes diplomacy going on today. what are you hearing about alternatives or comp pleases? what's going on? >> well, just about an hour after barack obama got off the stage, the president of france, nicolas sarkozy, gave his speech and said that there is a middle course between an almost-certain american veto for palestinian statehood and doing nothing. he wanted to give the palestinians non-member status, which is one step up from the current observer status that they enjoyed. he said along with doing that-- which only requires a simple vote in the general assembly rather than a security council decision-- you would set a one-year time limit for working out the final parameters of an agreement between the israelis and the palestinians. >> brown: but then there was a briefing, i gather this afternoon, from palestinian officials. so what was their reaction to things like that that are being floated and are they listening to the pressure that's being xirtd? >> it was a fairly high-ranking member of the palestinian delegation who's the deputy prime minister and minister of information, he said that he was willing to listen to the sarkozy proposal but that the palestinians were going to exhaust their efforts to win full membership in the united nations before they return to something short of full membership. so they weren't closing the door to the french president's idea but they said they wanted to approach the security council first and begin the process of becoming a full member of the u.n. >> brown: now, speaking of the security council, i gather you've had a chance to some members of the current council. what indications are you getting? what are they saying leading into this? >> well, the security council has 15 members, five permanent members, 10 rotating seats. no less than nine of the current members of the security council have already endorsed palestinian statehood. already recognized a palestinian state existing within the 1967 borders. but whether those same countries would vote in the security council for a palestinian proposal for full membership is an open question. we spoke to members of two delegations-- brazil and india-- both countries that have endorsed palestinian statehood and they said they have to see the text of the proposal before they're willing to make official their reaction to it. they say they want a palestinian state, they want to assure israeli security with defensible borders but they want to see the text first and they aren't willing to commit yet. >> brown: so the president had a full day of talks and it sounds like they're continuing. >> well, the president had a series of bilateral meetings with prime minister of japan, with prime minister netanyahu, as you mentioned in the report. and with two members of the permanent five members of the security council-- david cameron the prime minister of the u.k., and french president sarkozy. and he'll finish the day with with mahmoud abbas himself. and earlier, nab beal schaaf said "we'll lay out our position to the president, we aren't backing down, we aren't changing the position that we came to new york with and we want to make sure that president obama fully understands where we stand. we know that he's entering an election cycle where he won't be able to spend a lot of political capital or a lot of time and attention on us. so we, the palestinians, are going to go to the world community to ask for their backing in a peace process rather than wait for the americans to come around after november of 2012." >> brown: all right, ray suarez at the united nations. thanks a lot. >> good to talk to you, jeff. >> brown: and to a bigger picture look at all this now with two men with extensive high-level diplomacy experience. zbigniew brzezinski was national security advisor during the carter administration and is now a counselor at the center for strategic and international studies. richard haass served at the state department and national security council for presidents george h.w. and george w. bush. he's now president of the council on foreign relations. richard haass, i'll start with you. from the u.s. perspective. is this diplomatic tussle at the u.n. a problem or an opportunity? >> well, it's a problem. it only becomes an opportunity if somehow this threat of action in new york leads to the resumption of direct talks and those talks go somewhere. you have to be a wide-eyed optimist to believe that. so it's really a problem because the united states in the midst of the so-called arab spring does not want to have to cast a veto if things come to that, given the anti-americanism it would likely generate in the region. at the same time the united states would cast the veto and is compelled to cast the veto given its commitments to israel and its long-held view and the historical record that progress only comes through direct talks and you can't do a run around through the united nations. >> suarez: enthuse, how did you see it? >> i thought the president's speech in a way, unintentionally signaled the fact that the u.s. role in the peace process is fallen victim to domestic politics because his posture was one of kind of gentle encouragement for the peace process but he didn't convey much sense of urgency. the contrast between his speech and sarkozy's speech was really dramatic. the president's speech first of all dealt with the palestinian issue in a much larger context so he dealt with it very briefly sarkozy's speech was focused and it conveyed a sense of genuine concern that there was no progress that would be soon and that things would deteriorate and the parties to the conflict-- israeli and palestinians-- need peace, deserve peace, but they have to be actually helped from the outside to get that peace. >> suarez: do you think there is an opportunity here out of what's this effort to come to the u.n. this week? >> i think if we engage in some serious negotiations i think perhaps there is an opportunity but the united states will probably not be taking the lead. i suspect the europeans will be taking the lead to a greater extent. i would be much happier if instead of threatening to veto the palestinian resolution we were prepared to offer an alternative resolution, our own and with our friends. and that resolution could make several very important but relevant points. one, it could endorse u.n. support which goes back to the early... late part of the 1940s, support for an independent jewish state, democratic jewish state. second it could also endorse a democratic palestinian state. third, it could outline the framework for the peace negotiations much in keeping with what sarkozy was saying and commit the parties-- that is to say the europeans, ourselves, to an active role in the process. i think that would be much more productive. >> suarez: richard haass, what did you hear in the president's speech and did you see some diplomatic way forward here? >> well, the president spoke in clear generalities. what was noticeable was the lack of specifics and i think it reflects an acknowledgement that the situation is not terribly right. the israelis are understandably concerned about what's going on. their borders, they look at egypt, syria, jordan and so forth so they are very wary about moving forward with the palestinians given all that uncertainty. meanwhile, the palestinians they see the growing public pressures in the arab world. i think it makes them less likely than ever before to compromise. so against that backdrop it's very hard to see the raw material of progress, again, the only way i can see something coming out of this and i don't think it's terribly likely is that all of this pressure in new york leads to some sort of a... the resumption of direct talks. more likely, though, is the situation in new york comes to a head. either united states uses its vino the security council or the palestinians can't even muster the nine votes they need. the situation then goes to the general assembly, there you do have the overwhelming passage of some watered-down increase in palestinian legal standings and then you face the problems on all sides where the israelis could retaliate, make life much more difficult for the palestinians, congress may cut off aid. i'm not recommending it, i think it would be a mistake, but you could see that. and even the palestinian people, a few days after it would say, hey, what's changed? how has our reality improved? so rather than helping mahmoud abbas, the head of the palestinian national authority, this could actually boomerang on him. i don't think the palestinians have thought this through what it is essentially they've started here. >> suarez: what about, zbigniew brzezinski, we've all raised this larger context. the president called it the remarkable year of the arab spring, but that's clearly brought some new complications to all this. including the israeli palestinian conflict and the entire u.s. posture vis-a-vis the middle east. >> you're absolutely right. i think what's happening in the middle east is clearly a sea change in the direction of continued decline, accelerating decline and eventually termination of the central role that the united states has been playing in that region since the end of world war ii. we were welcomed into the middle east by the arabs because they saw in us a party that was not part of this imperial colonial tradition of the british and the french that are dominating the region but over the last 50 years or so they have been increasing this by our unwillingness to address seriously the problems particularly arising out of the israeli palestinian conflict. i think this week may be decisive. if we don't recoup, i think we'll really be witnessing in the near future the end of the american role in the middle east and that will be disastrous for the united states in the first place. there the longer run for israel. so in fact a lot of issues are at stake here. >> suarez: do you think the stakes are they that high, richard haass, in terms of this larger context? >> no, i think there is a general decline in u.s. influence. not so much for the reasons dr. brzezinski mentioned but for other changes, the rise of iran's power, the rise of islamic appeal. the reduction in the strength of certain governments such as we've seen in egypt that had tilted towards the united states. so i think those are all the... those are all part of the realities. but peacemaking historically has thrived less because of what outside power,st, including the united states, did, than it did because of what the locals themselves did. whether it was anwar sadat or itzhak rabin or menachem begin. history suggests peace works when you have leaders willing to take risks for peace, to make compromises, then they can sell those compromises to their own people. the problem is you have a palestinian leadership that is very weak and not in the position to compromise and you've got an israeli government that's very conservative, it's not terribly inclined to compromise and, again, looks out and see this is changing strategic picture which makes them very unwilling to make long-term decisions given all the uncertainty. so it's hard for know imagine a context in which the prospects for peace are poorer than they are now. so it's not really a function or question of what the united states is willing to do. i simply think in this context no outside force, including the united states, can accomplish a lot in the absence of more raw material to work. >> suarez: dr. brzezinski? >> well, that's a dire prospect, isn't it? for instance, it doesn't mean the gradual expulsion of the united states in the region and that will have very major geopolitical consequences for our region in the world and the stability of the region. but it's a very prospect for the palestinians and israelis. in the first instance, the palestinians at some point will erupt and they'll get crushed and what has been accomplished over the last several years will be reserved. and in the long run the israelis will become an island in a sea of hostility and the margin of advantage they've had militarily is going to decline. look at the following simple fact: 30 years ago we had good relations with iran, with saudi arabia, with egypt and turkey and through our friends. think of how much that has already changed. the implications of that are far reaching. >> suarez: all right, we will have to leave it there. zbigniew brzezinski and richard haass, thank you very much. >> thank you: >> ifill: still to come on the "newshour": the american hikers freed in iran; the fight for qaddafi's hometown; a different take on the extent of economic inequality in the u.s. and denzel washington on at-risk youth. but first, the other news of the day. here's hari sreenivasan. >> sreenivasan: the federal reserve announced new stimulus steps today. the central bank said the economy now faces significant downside risks. so, it will sell $400 billion in short-term treasury securities and buy longer-term bonds instead. the goal is to push down interest rates for home and business loans. wall street went into a tail spin after the fed announcement. the dow jones industrial average lost more than 283 points to close below 11,125. the nasdaq fell 52 points to close at 2,538. amid the general sell-off, chevron stock lost another 3.6%. on monday, a federal appeals court re-instated an $18 billion judgment against the oil company for polluting the amazon in ecuador. for the record, chevron is an underwriter of the "newshour." the greek government announced a new round of austerity measures today in its latest bid to stave off defaulting on its debt. they include suspending more civil servants than initially planned, and cutting monthly pensions. workers in athens answered by demonstrating outside parliament for a second day. they carried signs and banners protesting the cost-cutting plans. the state of georgia moved ahead this evening with an execution that's drawn international protest. troy davis was convicted of killing an off-duty policeman in 1989, but several witnesses have recanted. pope benedict, former president carter and others have weighed in on davis' behalf. also this evening, texas was executing a white supremacist in a notorious hate crime from 1998. the victim-- james byrd junior-- was dragged to death behind a truck. in mexico, police began searching for clues after a new atrocity in the country's drug war. suspected drug gang members dumped 35 bodies under this busy overpass during tuesday's rush hour. today, blood stains covered the pavement at the site. authorities said most of the victims had links to organized crime. typhoon roke slammed into japan today leaving at least 13 people dead or missing. the storm made landfall west of tokyo. from there, it passed dangerously near the region devastated by a tsunami last march. the powerful system dumped heavy rain that sent rivers pouring out of their banks. thousands of commuters across tokyo were stranded at the evening rush hour after train service halted. the u.s. and taiwan have formally announced a major arms deal-- to upgrade taiwan's fleet of f-16 fighter jets. th