>> from our studios in new york city, this is "charlie rose." we begin this evening with the escalating crisis in ukraine. russia is tightening its grip on crimea.

the president spoke today in washington before meeting with that israeli prime minister, benjamin netanyahu. that they continue on trajectory they are on, we are examining a series of steps -- economic, diplomatic, that would isolate russia. it would have a negative impact on russia's economy and its status in the world. >> secretary of state john kerry is set to travel. the foreigner ministrations policies. >> this is the ultimate result of a feckless foreign policy were no one believes in america's strength anymore. he will be joined by three foreign-policy experts that know russia and this crisis well. stephen hadley, former advisor to president bush, michael mcfaul who has been ambassador

to russia for president obama, and nicholas burns, who is a diplomat. welcome. >> thank you. >> what is it about the foreign-policy that you consider feckless? >> among other things, the entire approach to vladimir says the russia president came to office, we have had to reset in a conversation overheard. medvedev to tell vladimir i will be more flexible. he continued denial that is east-west or cold war. it may not be as far as barack obama is concerned, but vladimir putin said the greatest disaster of the 20th century was the fall of the soviet union, to him it is clearly east-west, cold war.

partews crimea has a vital of russia and he was not about to give it up and a major naval base. i think this was all predict able, but -- predictable, but a degree of naïveté is astounding. allowed for them to have been able discontinue. >> i'm not sure. -- to continue. >> i'm not sure. once the genie is out of the bottle, it is hard to put the brakes on things. of aggression. arese the excuse that there

speaking russian national guard, install and -- if stalin -- to awere agreers treaty for ukraine turning over their nuclear capabilities that russia would honor crimea being part of ukraine. their violation of international treaty which they had signed -- this is serious stuff. if he thinks it is an excuse to protect the russian citizens, what about estonia? poland? romania? these countries have russian speaking individuals. that is why hitler went into the native land, to protect the german citizens. position that if allowed to stand, will be a violation of

everything we stood for in the way of territorial integrity and sovereignty nations. >> what do you think will stop him? >> right now i do not think there is much to be honest with you. first of all, we need to have a reevaluation of our relationship with russia. discard what has failed, with this feckless policy. i would renew the missile defense program in the czech wouldic and in poland i have some nato exercises with the baltic states. bill thatexpand a targets individuals who are responsible for this. there are other things we can do. the initial signals out of encouraging as far as sanctions are concerned. >> i do know that. do think

sanctions that were effective in iran would have the same kind of effect on vladimir putin? try thenk i would target individuals and the bank accounts and the ability to travel. i would try that first. then i would look at others. g-8.im out of the s.number of other cosmetic whate have to understand this guy is all about. kgb --n old i said, watching russia and watch ukraine. unfortunately, i was correct. >> there enough.

-- fair enough. do you have enough leverage to make him feel the repercussions of what you have done so severely that he will change his policy? >> i do not think in the short term that there is anything right now that is draconian enough to make him change. of our policyn towards russia, recognizing him for what he is, a russian wants the dreams of the russian empire or which ukraine is the crown jewel, if we understand that and act accordingly in our relations with him, ronald reagan did not win the cold war in one shot. this policy of vladimir putin has been going on for five years . we have lost credibility throughout the world. wrinkly him of vladimir putin doesn't have much nervousness --

frankly, vladimir putin doesn't have much nervousness. i'm talking about seyria. >> the president would sure come forward and say we have a program with the russians. they are getting rid of the chemical weapons, which was the point of the attack in the first place. >> the president of the united states said in an interview today that he said if the russians would dismantle -- unless the russians dismantle their chemical capabilities that he would strike them. he didn't say that. he said he drew a red line in the sand. he basically made a false statement today. second, the weapons are going out slowly. heard of all, while the weapons may be going out, the barrel bombs and the slaughter goes on in syria.

in this fiasco called geneva, more people call during that fiasco than there was before that. he's playing us like a violin. >> i want to read you this from the new york times today. pressure rising as obama works to rein in russia and make it hurt. isolate putin as he tightens grip on crimea. the russian occupation of crimea has challenge mr. obama as no other international isys and at its heart, the advice seems to pose the same question -- is mr. obama tough enough to take on the former kgb colonel? is he? >> so far, no. it had some kind of delusion and we do withet the russians want by not moving forward with missile defense and other actions that we have

taken, particularly syria. asia to where we moved to and cutting our defense so dramatically we do not have the naval forces to do that. while we are talking tough, we're cutting our defense in ways that we have not seen since the 1930's. all of those do not go unnoticed. by the way, not it ministration is saying there's never going to be another land war that the u.s. is involved in. do you know honey times we have heard that in the 20th century's? dismantle that capability and that we got into another conflict tragically. the world is not a peaceful place. we have abdicated our leadership. that president putin has acted this way because he made a judgment at president obama was weak and wouldn't respond? >> i do not think you can draw any other conclusion, but i also

think he was smart enough to lastlate that given the five years of performance of this administration that he could probably use that with relative impunity and there is a very narrow range of options the u.s. and our friends could take, which probably would take a long time before it would have any significant affect. he needed that base. , i believe when putin looks around the world and sees what happened in syria, the president with a red line turned pink. all of the actions did take a decline in of the u.s. i think he is in bold and -- e mboldened. at the same time, some is suggested that the president should fly to europe and assemble a kind of meeting of

nato countries. do you think that is a good idea? >> i think it is probably a good idea. i think that the fundamental relationshipof our with russia has to happen first and then take actions did a did buy a realistic view of vladimir putin. did you know on friday john kerry was saying how there was .isinterpretation it was basically a failure to realize what was happening as late as friday. stillcan say is we are the greatest and strongest nation in the world. we recover from this era we recovered from jimmy carter and ronald reagan. i hope this is a game changer for the president of the united states of the united states that makes him realize the likes of the world in which we live and the necessity for mick and leadership here that does not

mean american -- and for the necessity of american leadership year. that does not mean american boots on the ground. >> within that statement, there is a sense that putin will respond if there are taught sanctions against him. he is wise enough in terms of what is in the best interest of russia to say, i made a mistake. i will pull back. assumption? >> i do not think he will do that. interest vital in his and the assembling of the russian empire again in the baltics. think anything we do on the short term is going to have an immediate effect. after ronald reagan came to office, it took a long time for steadfast peace through strength on the behavioral part of the u.s. that finally brought the outcome that we all -- most of

us were surprised by. >> you travel to ukraine last year i think to support the protesters. tell me what you saw. >> i saw hundreds of thousands of people in subfreezing weather , standing up for what they wanted. there was a rejection of this incredible corruption that has been revealed by the residences. theasn't so much as to join eu, versus a custom unions of latimer hooton. ladimirnt to be -- vitami putin. there's still a bastian of pro-russian people. that is understandable. even the young people in eastern ukraine do not want to be a part of russia here at that is what it is all about.

later there was a number in the field that was wounded and arrested in the desperation to keep control. .hat did not work we now know that yankovic asked wooten to send in troops. that would have been -- asked putin to send in troops. that would have been embarrassing. he is dealing horse he had to ride. -- he is the only horse he he had to write up. ,e is taking care of yankovic just like he's taking care of mr. snowden. >> does he have any leverage to use against us or our allies? >> he definitely has leverage. lovers.hose he has no cap she has those -- levers,hose particularly energy.

this has been about for the russian economy. the currency has fallen. the stock market is down. there was a reaction to this that may affect putin's economy. but i mention one other thing? is this beautiful and large country called ukraine. suppose ukraine finally after failing in 2004 get it right -- democracy, gets rid of corruption, the economy is improving, and it is there of the border for russia. i think it makes him nervous if there were a success in ukraine in bringing about a free and open society and economic success, which is not the case in russia. if the sanctions fail? what do you do it the pressure with his he continues

own ambitious ideas of expanding within his own borders and spears of influence? >> go back to georgia in nato. if you tried something like that ay with one area that has significant russian popularity -- population, he would be attacking nato. that would be an entirely different set of circumstances. i have no illusions that in the short term, we will be able to ambitions.tin's in the long term, we can curb those ambitions in many ways, but we are becoming more energy independent. the only thing that is putin happening up mr. putin's is his energy resources -- john thing that is -- the only thing that -- isting up mr. putin's

his energy resources. >> do you believe canada and romney had it right? >> i'm not sure, but i would that he is an008 unreconstructed kgb colonel whose actions is where he finds weakness and he can take advantage of. his ambition.n is we have to be listed and treat it accordingly. -- see it as that and treat it accordingly. we establish alliances. the greatest alliance in my view in history was the nato alliance that was formed. .t was incredible

i think it was incredible success. in other words, let's draw together again and recognize him for what he is, but not to the point where we are on the verge of having missiles onto launchpad. alamo happened. >> -- that will not happen. >> is it important to get him a way out? an exit ramp? face iftunity to save it looks like it is not in his interest to continue? >> i would very much like to see that. we want russia to be part of the community of nations here and we want to help the russian people. we want good relations. we have a rising threat in the east and a very pugnacious and assertive china. i do not think that will happen soon. you have to appreciate putin for what he is. if the russian economy starts to

suffer badly because of actions by us, then of course you want to give him an exit sign. you not know what's, campbell do in the corner. -- you do not know what someone will do in a corner. right now, kerry says he is loosing. i hope there are not many losses like that. >> thank you, senator john mccain.

>> we continue our conversation about the crisis in ukraine with three former government officials have dealt with a rush at the highest levels. from stanford university, michael mcfaul. he returned from russia last month as serving as the u.s. ambassador. on the harvard kennedy center, nicholas burns. he was undersecretary of state of political affairs from 2005-2008 two. and from washington, stephen hadley. he was part of the former national security advisers. each ofegin by asking use where are we at this moment? >> i think we're at a fundamental turning point in this crisis. president putin has successfully

divac don't a basis of crimea. he has military control. will he stop there or will he respond to the inevitable calls by some of the ethnic russian governors and the population of eastern ukraine to extend russian influence? i think president obama is acting rightly. you have seen to date combination of the russian -- you have seen the reaction to the russian actions. take some economic sanctions to make this costs more to putin to condemn and he has done, but also to give aid to that new ukrainian government. that is why secretary of state john kerry will be the tomorrow -- will be there tomorrow. in terms of statistics and

perhaps some equipment -- finally come it nato will meet this week. it is very important that the u.s. reaffirm the article five commitment. that is a collect the defense commitment. if one is attack, all of us are. used to be part of the warsaw pact. there is a lot of administration can do, but obviously the administration is responding to a very strong putin that took a very aggressive move over the weekend in crimea. >> we are at the precipice of a major conflict. we are at a moment where the obama,ertainly present other european leaders, are still trying to use diplomacy to find a way to de-escalate what is half inning inside ukraine, particularly in -- what is happening inside ukraine, particularly in crimea. i have noted carefully how they refer back to the february 21

agreement. has but needs to be the next phase for reconciling this crisis. they have not declared that crimea should be an independent country. they have not declared that crimea should be part of russia. right now i would say we are still in a moment where diplomacy still might have a chance. think it is early days. what we saw when putin went into georgia was that his objectives escalated or expanded depending on how he was doing. to avoid the escalation michael was talking about, you will be a function of how well he is doing in crimea, a function of what the reaction is of the people of ukraine, how hospitable he thinks they might be if he were to extend military action into other parts of the country, and

particularly where there he feels he will pay a price in the west. it is very important that we act very quickly to shore up ukraine , reassure our allies and central and eastern europe, and start making it clear that putin will play a strategic price for what he is done. that is what will happen in the next 24-48 hours. it will influence his calculation and keep him from expanding his objectives in this operation. >> understanding putin as each of you do, what price would be so high he would not be willing to pay it? strategy -- his might alter his strategy? >> three things. one, the extent he recognizes his actions are alienating the ukrainian people, the people he wants to win over.

second, to the extent that he finds that it energizes the western alliance, the western countries, and nato, and recommit to the u.s. and nato and the security of europe. finally, he starts paying a major economic price. part of that would be opposed by the market. his stock market went down today. interest rates went up. a little bit of a decline in the currency. part of it will depend on whether there are real sanctions that are rented and put into place. things that would affect his oil and cut russian companies off from the international finance system. you have learned a lot about sanctions in connection with that to the don with iran. there are sanctions -- that were don wite with iran. there are sanctions. something we were not able to do in 2008 after georgia.

something we should definitely do after this. >> i was just going to say that i agree with steve. there is one step that is off the table as it was in 2008 when putin went to war with georgia in the u.s. will not use military force to try to counter this. that would be catastrophic and unwise in the nuclear age. president obama asked president bush and no one is advocating that. cares about isly economic integration with europe and the rest of the world. he cares about being a member of the organization of economic cooperation. he cares about a bilateral investment treaty. we could hold that up here and he certainly cares about hosting in june.nment meeting there is not unity in the ranks

with europe. the germans made it clear today that they do not want to expel russia and they're not sure they want to go so far with some of these economic sanctions. steve strategy is a right strategy, but it only works if the europeans and americans are in lockstep here it doesn't appear that the germans are. it appears a angela merkel wants to go in a slightly different direction. >> what is the risk? nonaction?or >> the president is acting in my view. he has been engaged from the very beginning in this crisis. these are discussions we have had tragically leading up to this, but it wasn't like we were not focused on this before. his calculus right now is to try to raise the specter of the costs that we have been talking about. to get putin to rethink what his ultimate endgame might be.

as part of the compromise, it might be some kind of reconciliation between the various forces that were shooting at other -- at each other a few weeks ago. i saw a lot of senior government officials before i left. i had for all meetings of many people. the overwhelming impression i got about their view of what is happening in the ukraine was that hed with president was weak and he allow this to happen and he did not stay and defend the interest of the ethnic russians that are there and alternately russia's interest. that is a way to try to think about is there a way to reconcile so that there could be a peaceful path forward? economicisn't, sanctions won't matter this time around. this is not the soviet union of 1956 when they invaded hungary. there are billions of dollars,

russian dollars, all around the world and in american banks, european banks, that sanctions could be held hostage. another instance, the biggest joint venture possibly in the history of american capitalism is between the state owned oil company and exxon mobil. another thing that could be put on pause. there are much bigger economic risks for russia today. they are so integrated now in the world economy compared with previous eras. tell me where you think his head is and how far he wants to go in how he might respond. who think vladimir putin told president bush that the dissolution of the soviet union was one of the great tragedies of the 20th century really believe that. in his soul, you must restore the empire. not the soviet empire, but a russian empire.

he is a 19th and 20 century thinker with a 19th and 20th century sense of power. i think that is what this is all about. he has moved cautiously. he has moved incrementally. he has been smart. people would say that moving into ukraine was a mistake because he has lost ukraine. in some sense, that is true. one of the site dynamics is by moving into ukraine, into crimea , is that he freezes further movement from ukraine towards the west. the europeans tend to be uncomfortable incorporating into withr the nato or the eu territorial disputes, particularly outstanding disputes of russia. his endgame is to try to be disruptive and take targets of opportunity to stop the movement of countries like georgia and andine towards the west

freeze them in the middle so he can continue to what the kind of pressure and in some sense a black male to try to -- blackmai l them to try to move them to toward thestoms, security structure, and really reconstitute a sort of latter day russian empire. i think that is what this is all about. >> come back to the question of georgia. is option of georgia and nato membership still in play? ofi would tell you that one the things that needs to be done to theomptly is to show world, particularly to the countries in europe, that the door is still open to these institutions. montenegro ought to be made a member of nato.

georgia ought to be given a membership that would with them -- put them with nato membership. we should reaffirm what was said in 2008 that nato believes if ukraine wants, should become a part of nato durin. should reopen negotiation agrees with georgia, ukraine, make clear that they meet the criteria and can be part of europe. that would send a strong signal to these countries, but also by moving them into the western framework, it would bring stability to the region and avoid presenting russia with targets of opportunity to do sort of operation georgia and crimea again in other places. >> back to the question of obama and whether it his credibility is on the line and how he must act. he suggested he is acting. on the other hand, do you believe resident putin --

president putin has made a calculated decision on the president? >> i think the president feels like he has lost ukraine. that was humiliating for president putin. it was humiliating to see ninkovich -- yankovic flee the way he did. this is his response. he is captivating that it is more important to him what happens in crimea than it is to the u.s. in all of ukraine. that is his copulation. it doesn't mean -- this is my personal readings of a very complicated leader -- but my own reading is that he has not decided. he has not decided whether he was to really put in the effort to try to secure crimea and bring back the empire.

he has to think about the costs. we have not talk yet about the ukrainians. it is a very important point that if the costs are raised for military action, that will clearlyhe calculus very good i'm impressed so far of how pragmatically the government of kiev has responded. a dentist in the negotiation is a much better way to bring back there country to be fully independent. if that rate down, i do not want to be the one to predict where that ends. we should be careful to think this'll be a cakewalk. it is not going to be that simple. it is a much more out located -- he is a much more complicated man. when you talk about eastern ukraine, yes there are big ethnic groups that are russia's, but they tend to be -- that are besians, but they tend to

cities surrounded by country sites. >> does what is going on now affect other things -- syria, iran, and other things which russia and the u.s. are engaged in some way and trying to find some kind of answer or progress? mighthink the russians want to think that they can link all of these issues and therefore threatened the u.s. that if they are not quite on ukraine, we will not get what we want on the help on preventing iran from getting those chemical weapons out of syria. publiclyans are identified in the united nations with the effort that they sponsor to get those chemical weapons out of syria. i can i see president putin pulling out of that. on iran, we have always work perfectly well with the russians both in the bush and obama administrations. they have been at the table with

us. russia is a closeness of the great powers geographically to iran. it is not in their interest to see iran a coming nuclear power. i do not think putin can turn the tables on obama. you ask what the risks are for obama. there is a leadership test that any american resident would have to meet. we are a leader of the nato alliance. nato will look to the u.s. for reassurance. i want to pinpoint the anxiety that you hear in conversations with europeans over the last couple of days. they have lived the soviet reality. they were reserves in the warsaw pact of stalin. they are liberated and have been for a court of a century and are protected by nato. one thing the president can do is go to europe, share a meeting of the nato council, or heads of counsel.

reaffirm the american nato protection of the baltic states. i think that president has to speak to the american people about the largest to take jake objective we haven't -- strategic objective. h. w. bush says they want a europe that is whole, free, and peace. now with this invasion of the russian special forces into crimea and the press they're making to go further, europe is being divided in a way again. the resident needs to lead should -- president needs to lead. >> where their signals that we could have somehow in some way played a different role before the crisis got to where it is now? >> i think this is provoked when

the deal that had been worked out between that europeans, russians, and americans about the transition that would've left yanukovych in power through the end of the year, the strip tim a lot of his powers. when that was rejected by the demonstrators in the square and it fell apart, they basically make clear that yanukovych had to leave and then he fled the country. i think that is what really sat in frame for these events. i would not fault the administration for that. i would underscore what was said. for thean opportunity president. there has been a lot written that his death didn't manage and -- is diffident style -- he can step forward in this issue and lead. it is the perfect -- his toughest

foreign-policy since he took office? to divide a new the european continent. himink it will preoccupy the last three years of his presidency. >> what do you make of on july merkel's-- angela comments that she thought he had lost touch with reality? >> putin would report alleging facts that we know to be simply untrue. he was talking about our alleged support for [indiscernible] in russia. if you watch russian television, you would have thought that crimea was being invaded by a azi for supported by terrorist organization with relations to other terrorist

organizations around the world. we know that to be completely untrue. what i do know is that the information flow to putin is not great. it is an trolled sources of information. -- it ist is controlled sources of information. i have seen that at most and hearing where i am described by russian government officials that includes president putin, this in they were flecked the reality that we knew. -- this does not reflect the reality that we know. for think it is important the entire country to be behind this. i want to remind you of what happened in august 2008. after the russians went into georgia, we had a big debate. made and spencer made about what should be done. a very important decision was

taken led by the bush administration to provide a billion-dollar atomic packets to georgia. once i became a government official, i saw the results of that billion dollar package. this is the time when u.s. congress needs to be working with the administration to put together a similar package to help stabilize ukraine in this dire moments of me. >> look back to georgia. what were the lessons of that and what would you do differently if you had to do it over? the think that one of mistakes we made and it covered the administrations come i think we moved quickly. i think we had a robust set of diplomatic actions. we made some implicit security threats as well. through a managed terry and assistance in aircrafts -- we

sent in humanitarian assistance in aircrafts. i think that aspect was pretty robust. i think it prevented russia from doing what it wanted to do, what should -- which was to overturn the government. economic about sanctions, but we never put them in place before leaving office. i think economic sanctions have a big role to play in ukraine. second of all, the reset in oneia that came in 2000 and probably too soon. i do not think they did enough. i think it was not allowed in place long enough probably in the obama administration. our effort was to try to turn putin from doing this again. he has just done it in crimea. >> supposed engines take place and suppose there is no g-8.

what tools does he have? what weapons as he have? what leverage does he have in the ongoing i will talk you and then i will talk you? >> he has some leverage. putin is in a strong position. i'm not happy to say that. the europeans are well aware of that. some companies are much -- countries are more reliant than other. leverage against the ukrainians. in the past, he has not been hesitant to use that. he will do it again. he is also very good at dividing europe from the u.s. we're seeing that in the last couple of days. that is why it is important that the u.s. closes rank with the germany. there is one more thing. andpresident's response

sending secretary kerry to care, that is important. the president has got to be very tough with the sanctions, condemnation of putin. build up some of the nato defenses. at the same time as in 2008, any president will want to have some exit doors. if putin was to back out of crimea, we want to create a scenario where he can do that. we invite him to do that. what is interesting to me it is present obama mentioned in the phone call that a 90 minute phone call that the u.s. does understand that there is this issue of ethnic russians. white doesn't the u.s. and europe helped russia to monitor the well-being of those ethnic -- why doesn't the u.s. and europe helped russia to monitor the well-being of those ethnic russians? if you leave it on the table, gives a potential way out. in many rings

with the two presidents -- i have been in meetings with the two presidents. i have no illusions about the weight president obama thinks about president putin and his actions. >> how does he think about him? he sees it as illegal, a responsible, threatening the security of europe. have been very clear about that for a long time in the discussions about this -- leading up to this tragic moment we are in now. secondly, i think what was said hope exit ramps, i would to have been part of the conversation. right now the sector of costs might be able to change the behavior. the economic policy in particular. by the way, i want to point out one big difference between georgia in 2008 in ukraine

today. there were a lot of european friends who were skeptical about president [indiscernible] they blamed him. to the president at the time. i'm sure he must be feeling rather indicated in his assessments of russia today. we are not having that debate right now. i think that is important. make it easier for us to be united on things. we need the europeans. >> one thing i would add. the words are fine, but this is not going to be turned around by words, but by actions. i agree with michael. sometimes it is stunning how much of that information that putin uses. he is a cunning, shrewd, and tough guy. he is not been a be detoured by

words. he will be detoured by actions. i have had people who talk to him and asked if he was in other countries. they think he has a clear strategy and this is a there is an, that clear strategy for the russia he would like to see. harmful participants. starting in his own region or even be on that in the middle east, does that resonate with you? >> yes. he has a tragedy but fails -- tragedies fail. i have been dealing with putin for five years and the government here i have heard his vision. that was to have ukraine as part of that union. not crimea, but ukraine. he felt that you won the first

battle last fall. he took on the eu i was pushed and shoved. president yanukovych sided with him. snug.elt very this incredibly snug that their vision was coming to fruition. that is why the shock for the russians on how yanukovych was toppled or ran because i do not think he was toppled. this is a reactive, short term tactical response. this is not part of the eurasia vision and this is a tactical response. i do not think you know the endgame is. it does make him vulnerable to the kinds of pressures that will do my colleagues were talking about, particularly on the economic site for us. the ukrainians will decide on the more security part what the cost will be for this

occupation. >> a column today -- russia's mistake was that which you basically start by putting napoleon to have had cautioned during an 1805 battle. when the enemy is making movement, we must agree to not interrupt him. that is true, what should we do? >> the russians were surprised that yanukovych fled, they had to assemble a policy on the run. him and i know whether he wants to annex crimea and proceed to eastern europe ain't. union. putin is and have a cigar ally in the world. he can intimidate and tried to intimidate ukraine and intimidate our media, but we have got nato. we had 28 countries, to north

america, 26 in europe that all should be here. we could isolate him to magically come over the long run, i would say that advantage -- he cannot digest ukraine. he cannot divide it without tremendous lyrical costs to the russian federation. i think obama is probably playing for the middle or late around. >> i would emphasize that i think it is a 15 round match. i think putin is playing for the long-term. we can affect the later rounds, but only if those many countries are willing to come together and are galvanized into fairly decisive actions. secondly, it will depend on ukraine. ukraine is an economic basket case. government, new cannot perform. the country is further into

economic chaos. it may come unstuck. putin may have other options at that point in time. i think we have to take a long-term perspective here and have a strategy. there has been a holdup. emphasize something that was said it is important that we get in now and in a big way to help this ukrainian government succeed in turning around its economy and beginning to bring some prosperity and ability to his people. that is going to be key. >> thank you, stephen hadley, nicholas burns, and michael mcfaul. all.ure to have you >> thank you. ♪

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>> this is "taking stock" for march 4, 2014. i am pimm fox. today the theme is family. epix is joining time warner cable and in just a moment i will talk to the chief executive about the agreement and take a look at the state of the cable industry. i look at family conversations happening around the dinner table. i will speak with two executives who turned a $60,000 investment into a $125 million furniture brand. you are going to meet a family -- new york's