>> from our studios in new york city, this is "charlie rose." the editor of "the new yorker" is here with me. he wrote "lenin's tomb," and his

latest article he tracks the rise of vladimir putin through the story of michael mcfaul. he writes, "the russian president sees himself as the leader of a new activist."vativeist tell me. who is vladimir putin? how has he changed from the first time he was president until today? >> when he arrives as president in 2000, literally new year's eve, the state is incomplete this array. state institutions are reeling. really, russia has not recovered from the economic collapse, privatization which was chaotic and worse. the place was a mess.

a terrible mess. pledginge in at a time nothing about ideology or democracy in any serious way, but nor was he terribly anti-western. he was pledging order and in and the chaos and a rebuilding of the economy. lucky him after making a number of misses, the price of oil and gas shoots up. 2005, time you get to 2006, his popularity is through the roof because for the first ,ime, pensions are being paid salaries are being paid. a middle class developing. people are traveling abroad. they are getting mortgages for their apartment. this is unprecedented. the deal in russian society at to theint from potent populace implicitly was if you stay out of politics -- from p utin to the populace, that's my

realm, you can do whatever you want, sleep with who you want, just stay out of politics. those who do not, the oligarchs to get involved will pay the price. the more finely written charge, if you try to take power from me, i will take you down. than you can say anybody's name. 80 years goes by -- eight years goes by, he essentially gives power but there's really only one party. it is transferred to his prime minister who becomes president, dmitri medvedev. retreats somewhat and becomes prime minister but everyone understands him still to be the most powerful person.

oil and gas prices are still very high. suddenly, in 2012, there are .treet demonstrations people now want even more. that's what happens in society. middle-class becomes the middle class and they enjoy the fruits of that but -- guess what? elections,ransparent real democracy. what set off the anger of the middle class was the perfunctory announcement, "i'm back. i'm running for president again. medvedev is out." it is called the castling maneuver. it is hard-core authoritarianism or worse. people were angry coming out to the streets in tens of thousands. he's intended. he's angry. -- he is incended.

>> angry because he is coming back? >> in a preemptively nondemocratic way. they have been promised to them for decades now. some of them are quite conservative or nationalistic. there are no real leaders, no ideology. putin wins. he comes back. he crushes them. lot withhis political an entirely different group. they are now the silent majority. this noisy, pain in the neck am a middle-class who dares to go out in the streets, he insults them, burn rates them on television and turns on them completely. he starts to develop

opportunistically an ideology that he never really voiced fully before. moral conservativism much closer to the church. his political allies have always been security branches. seen as a much more utin-western, xenophobic p without suggesting in 2006 he was any sort of -- >> reformer. then he decides all prices come down. part of the problem is the economy has never really been fully reformed. see --s a clip talk or kleptocracy. people steal and it is enormous. and things that were

government-owned are now in private hands. biggest one, the most essential, they are in the hands of the government or government-related. >> oligarchs took over a lot of them, whether it was concrete, oil. >> they privatized it for themselves. they bought them. this to ukraine and his actions in ukraine. an associate for the olympics. there were already problems with ukraine. clearly russia -- meaning the kremlin -- was not happy with what was going on. russia always considered ukraine -- most leaders don't even consider them a real country. >> part of russia. >> historically. >> and they had a lot of nuclear weapons there. >> half of the military complex was in eastern ukraine which is

why what's going on now is so economically based. due tof this has been the relationship between russia and ukrainian leaders and what they can offer an oil and gas deals. after they had the revolution. >> unbelievable. >> and those in eastern ukraine where the separatists are and they had the crash, they speak russian. they relate to russia. >> he wants to make this more into an economic issue. there is the eu wanting to get involved with the ukraine and there came the crash and it came to a flashpoint. while you were there, you spoke to a lot of people who know him well. thatwould caution you

anyone who says they know poodle well is usually exaggerating the relationship -- who says they know putin well. i cannot think of many more countries controlled by the down russiacisions is controlled by vladimir putin. short of north korea. he has people around him, to be sure, but they are instrumental in different parts of the administering of the country gor runningis i gore such oil, someone in defense, it is centered on him. >> what does he want? wants, he ishat he very resentful of the west. he is very resentful. he feels the west has the trade russia for all kinds of reasons.

some of it is really and some of it is disingenuous. 2000-2001, he is to talk about russia becoming part of nato in a very sincere way in becoming part of the international club. now a big talking part in russia is how resentful russia is of nato. this is imperial hangover. the hangoverar to from the fall of the ottoman empire in turkey, the resentful mess of no longer being an imperial center the way you once were. and weits there today all know the famous quotes he fall of the soviet empire was the worst day of his life. is thatomplete quote

it's the greatest geopolitical catastrophe of history. in his terms, the collapse of the soviet union was a blow having nothing to do with communism but just about russian power. when you are seeing now is a reassertion -- >> it was not ideological but about power. it was about geopolitical data, military. >> i talk to people who say he does not want to take over, they say, all of the former soviet empire. he does want to assert and have a band around russia, russian influence. the ideology is based on russian speakers. vocabularyy familiar -- and i'm not calling him a fascist but i do not want to make these analogies. you have heard this about german speakers in another area and

that can get very ugly. english-language countries do hegemony t over all english speakers. that promises have been broken, humiliation had been inflicted on russia unfairly since 1991 in particular. a deep sense of conspiracy against russia -- >> the west. in the encroachment of nato is part and parcel on that. >> they are behind any challenge to his authority. >> it was part of a cia operation. russians who of likeliest oft the the shooters are russian backed

separatists and it's tiny. most believe -- >> most people in russia. >> they believe it's a conspiracy either committed by ukraine on its own or with their backing. it my business in my last trip there a few weeks ago to not talk about the usual cast of liberal characters who speak english but rather people who , trueound putin believers, or even more so. nationalist,ist, --it is enforced by a media completely in the hands of the state.

he was appointed by the president of the united states. it is a sense of they are out to get us and it is profound. people who used to be on the discussion have now been empowered to be on and are very forceful voices. allowo further and they putin not only to have his view amplified but for prudent to be able to point the goes guys -- point to those guys and say, "i'm the reasonable one." >> is there a battle about the future of russia? people in consequence, a battle for putin's mind or a battle for

the future of russia. >> i wish there were. ofpart of the consequence such state control over the media is that the debate is tamped down. the degree to which that occurs is subterranean. really inls are retreat. they feel defeated, muffled. >> can they speak out? >> it can be quite dangerous. ins is the soviet union 1937. people are not being sent off to camps. instead, this is much more sophisticated. in the same way that imperialism is too expensive for modern life

, it is incompatible with the global economy. cannot be as total list as it used to be. only north korea deals in that way. he takes this spot and demonstrates the rebellion. it is severe. pavlovsky.ed inloathes spontaneity politics and he is an anti-revolutionary to his core. so when they threw out yanukovych him and he had defined his way to moscow to avoid being arrested. for him, that was the ultimate insult. >> exactly. but conspiracy means in this context, charlie, the rose revolution in georgia, a rear quare, this isir s

what he fears the most. he is convinced the west and the cia is behind every single one of those. gives them more power because they knew how much power he had in the kgb. >> that psychology is there very much so. theknow, he saw demonstrations in moscow as a potential, the seedling of that kind of uprising. >> the same way the iranian saw the protest after the election. we have to stop that. now. >> completely and utterly. >> what's going to happen? he can be in power whenever he wants. he recognized the constitutional limits the first time. >> he did. how long can he last? what the current

policy is now. injuriousns become not only to the country but the interest of the people around putin, then there is trouble. if russia's isolation from the rest of the world, it's poor public image becomes injurious not only to the country but the structures around putin and the potential trouble -- right now on the very short term, his population is over 80%. the control of information is such that he is not threatened by popular voices of uprising. >> to those people think that sanctions can work against him or he can somehow -- >> the rhetoric is that they can't and they laugh them off. the statistics and experts who know something seem to feel that

they can hurt. how that affect policy is anybody's guess. it could become more angry. there are people here who think sanctions could even be counterproductive. questionhere is the that pervades everything. you hear one american after another describing him as a thug. >> his background is obvious. maybe it's my character and i butnot to use those words, we know what he's done. we know what he's done in journalists, what we think he's done in certain circumstances. i think that's enough. >> here's why i asked. back at the time when the syria thing was reeling and assad might lose power and russia stood there, in a sense, on his side, people that i interviewed from the west to are critical

from the obama administration would say to me that putin has a strategy. obama doesn't have a strategy. it's not so much what the president has of the united states but was the president of russia has. a smart,tart -- strategic thinker who knows what he's doing? >> great question. i think not. with ukraine, he stumbled and lurched forward. i'm convinced -- by the way, and syria, he had an interest. opportunityhem an to be a player. all of a sudden, russia was a player. >> they lost egypt decades ago. their interest in the middle east was small. from one bad decision to the next but strategically does not, to me,

russia is in far less better shape they were banned for this forinian -- it's a disaster him. even though his popularity is very high, ultimately it's not good. forces, unleashed ideological and political, that are ugly and will not be easy to contain or bring back. a lot of the people i spoke to for this "new yorker" article are people who are hideous and their ideology. i would see them because they represent a certain strain and because you showed but now they are empowered. crimea.just want i want a full invasion of eastern ukraine. balticshen maybe the even though its nature protected. >> wherever. these things seem harder to believe.

i have to tell you, sitting in , this ukrainian crisis -- >> that he would let it go that far. is he going to turn back? is he going to take the troops off the border? is he going to be -- >> guessing is guessing. guessing is lousy journalism. i don't know. i don't think this business of talking about putin as if he is not a rational actor as if he's crazy, deluded -- >> or thinking about restoring the greatness -- >> i think this whole ,evelopment of the new ideology the moralism of it, saying that the west has become decadent -- >> there are people in the united states who listen to that with great --

>> pat buchanan. thinks putin is great for his moralism and all kinds of reasons. , -- "vladimir putin: the imperial putin." with us.nick when michael mccaul came, putin took him on. >> his political career was all about democracy building. he was a democratize her. he thought he was going to be reset.ing the just as things turned to the worse and he became a target of putin's program from day one. clintonstioned hillary about the reset to russia. when medvedev was there, the reset really took place.

>> it was better. it was far from perfect. it was a heck of a lot better when medvedev was there. there was no way on the world that putin agreed with medvedev's decision to not veto the nato incursion into libya. >> thank you for coming. >> david remnick from "new yorker" magazine. back in a moment. stay with us. ♪

>> idina menzel is here. she's a tony award winning actress best known for her powerful voice. she was part of the original run on broadway of "rent" and "wicked." "frozen" wonrom the academy award for best original song. she returns to broadway after a decade off. here is a look at "if/then." ♪ >> here i go oh, here i go i love you so

so here i go ♪ amazed that i found her i'm amazed that she gave in win-winit's he walked into her life for a day ♪ choosing the right path >> no turning back ♪ no turning back ♪ wonder what if what if

>> what if ♪ [applause] >> oh, my god. here she is. >> hard to hear myself in front of you. [laughter] great to be at the table. wow. >> it can't get any better, can it? >> sitting at this table? no. [laughter] >> you sang the major league all-star game. how big was that? comedy people in the stadium? -- how many? >> i don't know. it's nerve-racking but what's those veryracking is masculine famous baseball players all standing there in front of me like, waiting to see what i can do. [laughter] that was intimidating. >> but it is a good time.

did you know this was going to happen? you always hung in there, number one. you believed in your talent. >> i did. ." ">-- >> you were in elphaba and-- you were in "rent" and didn't get all the attention. you were in "wicked" and didn't get all the attention. its did get attention and monday responsibility. the attention makes me a little -- it's more the responsibility. it makes me more anxious, having your name above the title and all of that stuff. it's been a very interesting year professionally. >> what is the great ambition for you? >> i want to figure out how to live my life doing what i love, being an artist, performer, a

great mom, and not working myself into a tizzy about it. i would like to figure out how to reconcile that and be able to and raise a worlds really great kid, which hopefully i think i'm doing. to queens.back why this? what made you want to do this? seey parents took me to broadway shows all the time since i was a little kid. barbra streisand and kris kristofferson in that version of "a star is born." it was her, really. it was the first album i ever owned. i just listen to it. about her voice.

everything just struck a chord with me and i wanted to achieve that. they took me to shows all the time and it's what i wanted to do. then i became a wedding singer and started listening to aretha franklin. then i wanted to be a rock star. >> then you went to nyu. " is the perfect balance of the first professional job to have those influences, the rock, the soul, the musical theater. >> do you think of yourself more as a senior fan an actor? actor?nger than an >> i used to. i have more confidence but i'm starting to change my tune. i've had the voice of her since i was a little girl and it was something that i held onto. it's why i think people like me

or why they think i'm special. i'm getting older and realizing i have more to offer than the high notes and the acrobatics. like "if/then" involves a lot of character work and authenticity, all of that kind of stuff. as i'm getting older, i think i am more equal actress-the singer. broadway is afto ter a year. >> i was in "wicked for a year-and-a-half, went to london, had a baby, and i was looking for another original piece. original musicals take a long time. with thehis one

director from "rent," tom, brian, david stone, my producer from "wicked." you have to give it time to develop and find its way. >> who are liz and beth? beth are two parts of one's soul, i guess, is how i look at it. they are two of many side of the iectrum of women i think and just want up a that and tell those stories. they are the same woman affected by different circumstances. path ofens to take the career, work, and does not find

the love of her life right away and the other one meets someone and has to figure out how to compromise or does she want to compromise or career goals for love and children? >> you play both. >> to me, it is all the same woman. what was fun as an actress is figuring out, you could not play with ah a limp and one french accent. it's the same woman. [laughter] does onenuance and how woman have two children and the other woman has none so does she carry herself differently? >> one has glasses and the other doesn't. used to doe chaplin it so we could go with an old device. very cathartic for me to go and have avery night

role that i can play but also use to explore and work out some of my own struggles that i have. >> what struggles do you you have? >> being a mother, being selfish, priorities, picking my career over an extra hour with my son, or sleeping in because he wakes me up at 6:00 a.m. and then i can't hit the high notes because i'm exhausted. balancing all of that and what's really important. i think having a child actually help to ground me because it's about him. it's not as much about me. off ofs a lot of stress myself to finally realize. >> has anyone ever said you spend too much time with your

kid? >> i can feel when i bring him whenme to certain events they wish i was not as distracted following him around. they want me to have on my game face. it helps to get onstage and not be so nervous about what you are doing because you are so worried about if he is still crying because you left him for a minute. the song, the notes, all of those famous people are really not as important as the little guy that depends on you. where ien me a place get onstage to perform, for lack of a better term, i "let it go." i'm freer. i'm more relaxed. more interesting things come out. >> what about his father? [laughter] >> is a very good father. >> so he plays his role. >> we are just separating this

year so it's been a very tumultuous, weird year. accolades and then personally -- he's a terrific father and a great friend. i love him very much. we are still figuring this out in negotiating all of this. let's put it this way. it's great to have the show that i am in now and a cast of incredible people and friends to surround myself with as i figure out how to tackle the next part of my life. >> how do you improve in your craft? how do you get better professionally? just doing it or do you have to focus and say, if i want to go from here to hear i need to pay attention to this, get the right kind of coaching? >> i have had the same teacher for 20 years now, the same voice teacher since college. vocal exercises.

it's a very similar regimen to prepare for a show, it shows a week. depending on what i'm going to do, i work really hard. i take the music and the way before i step into her herself. say, ok,t it and we what will give me problems? what's intimidating me? people in the theater hear me warming up in the steaming shower before a show. now that i can afford it more, i bring her and she travels with me. she helps me pace myself. tothey are getting you up sing on national tv in the morning, maybe you should not do this the night before, pick this melody. she helps me make choices. >> where do you come down in

terms of the choice that it is a portrait of alternative existences of roads taken or not of a person a person might have been if only she did this instead of that. >> mmhmm. that's not all he said. [laughter] >> he gave you high praise. >> ok. what are we talking about? choices. the choices that people make. do you have because of her life experiences, having fought through this broadway production , with an opinion about all of this? it's not a choice between having a life that has versus -- that liz has verses a life

has. if you want a professional might you cannot have a family. it's a false choice. >> it's about trying to stay in to rest assured that as long as you're learning something, through whatever experience you are in at the moment, that it will benefit you and open the door to another opportunity and prepare you for the next opportunity. whether it goes in this direction or that direction and how you get there, that all remains to be seen. that's kind of why i like that the character is a city planner because it is in this chaotic world in the city. in this huge city, we can still run into somebody that there is a method in the madness and how we choose to walk to work every day.

it really makes a difference. i did not know that as much until i was researching. chairman of the planning department was talking about this. commissioner of the city planning commission. writer sawr or the her story and a profile and decided this life would be perfect for the life to you inhabit. >> it would be a good parallel. it started as an economist and we changed it. >> because she was more glamorous? it's an smart and occupation that requires not just statistics but it's about numbers and making sense of things but also about the heart. when i sat with amanda, she does go in the old the site. it's not going there and feeling

it, understanding it and the people all around. the not just about getting papers and the zoning. we needed that heart and the ord to be working together we are struggling at all times. then the choices, the streets, the path that we take gave us a nice metaphor. >> how about liz? the woman who decides she wants to marry, have a family. >> she meets that man and he understands her but she comes from a marriage that was crappy and she sort of compromised herself and she comes back from new york and meets this guy. not want to lose herself. she does not want to need anyone and yet he is wonderful for her. he celebrates her so then they end up having kids a little too soon.

before you know it, now she's a compromise on the job she would have wanted to take. it's about timing, it's about age. i dealthis death that with every single day, whether or not to have a second child, getting divorced. i have one kid. i'm 43. what do you do? do you freeze your eggs? [laughter] is to decide,de as you know. >> exactly. >> you can freeze your eggs in common sorts of things, but why not? if the four-year-old brings you so much joy and you feel like you add joy to his life, why not? one reason not to have another child? give me one. --the first couple years are

i would to travel a lot and he's at the age. if i have a baby -- i did not want to leave that baby. i doted on him. the breast-feeding. it's just -- you know? i would like to be a fly on the wall there. i just want to soak it in. >> what would you want to know? >> how she juggles it. i don't like being asked how many and hours today i spent a few my son. how do you make the pancakes, give the bath, read the books he can do the nighttime ritual and how do you get on set and memorize your lines? how do you do it all? what's enough? knowing that my son is going to grow up to be a very strong-willed, independent, passionate woman like his mother. if i did not do all of that, he

would see a different side of me that i would not want him to see. it is just grappling with that all the time, you know? is that an excuse that i may? to find the have right man or would you do it by son -- [laughter] i would have to find the right man. i don't know. these are just the things that i think about. [laughter] i can be very happy with my little guy. >> sounds like win-win to me. you're happy with him but if there is the great gift of another one. >> if my body decided to allow me. >> when you first heard "let it go," did you go -- oh, my god? >> i thought it was a great song. i thought it was great for my character, the writing, the movie. i thought disney was doing

something cool because i was not your typical nemesis. they were getting more complicated with their women, which is important. i like that it had a little bit of an edge to it that i had no idea in this day and age the social media that it would resonate with everyone. >> i'm told they are bringing it to broadway. >> it takes a while. the lion king? it's a lot of work. it took a long time. >> another disney production. can you balance film and theater? >> so far. my film career is not that budding. i've had a few roles and that's it. >> who's a role model for you? >> my younger sister is a second grade teacher. she had two kids early on.

she's single. she got a divorce. she has handled so much so gracefully. >> does she look like you? >> she's a stretched out, elongated version. she is point. skinnier. [laughter] >> i was thinking about someone like -- who is combining acting in theater? >> like bette midler, barbra streisand? that is something that has eluded me. i forgot how you worded it but, i feel like i've accomplished so much this year and i'm feeling much more relaxed -- >> and confident. >> satisfied with where i am in my life. rose," "funny girl," they say we will be too old by the

time they do a movie. i would like to be in a film where i could showcase my different talents in that way. beggars can't be choosers. i'm happy that i have a hit song that is very theatrical. five years ago it never would have been played on the radio. >> every child i know sings it. >> i know. and then their parents send me the video of it. [laughter] and i love it. >> do they really? take a look at this video. here it is. ♪ the snow blows white on the mountain tonight not a footprint to be seen a kingdom of isolation and it looks like i'm the queen howling with a swirling storm inside

can't keep it in heaven knows i've tried don't let them in, don't let them see be the good girl you've always had to be concealed don't feel don't let them know well, now they know let it go letting go -- let it go can't hold back anymore let it go let it go turn away and slam the door i don't care say they're going to but the storm rage on the cold never bothered me anyway ♪ >> how much of a great voice is simply a gift? >> i don't know.

it's a good question. what do you think? honestly, i want to know what you think. i think it's kind of a gift. at the risk of sounding conceited or arrogant. i've asked ashley to that end they will say to me, i could just hit the ball early. and the more they said it's great, the more i wanted to do it and the better i got, the more they praise me, the better i got. and then all of a sudden you are in an elite group. you're a great tennis player when you are 10 you win all the juniors. >> there's lots of voices, great , but which ones actually make you get the chills? it's kind of that thing. to me, that's more important. i'm not sure if people can

figure it out, the one that will make you -- >> i don't know. it's a combination of whatever acoustics i have. i think i have this big, ugly wide jaw. it's just this cavernouse things. >> big lungs. i i had lessons early on so could breathe, find the sound, who i listened to. maybe phonetically. but then also the willingness to be authentic and vulnerable, to be seen. it's more than just singing and that is something that i have really aspired to do. it's very scary. i'm almost more comfortable being on stage shedding my skin in order to be completely true

in front of an audience than i do sitting here one-on-one trying to be as authentic as possible. that's funny. >> it's easier for you to shed your skin on stage. >> in front of all those people, i don't know. it doesn't make sense. you can be a confident enough person to get through the nerves and not sabotage yourself. get out there and sing at the oscars, sing the national man-to-man not fail. you can be that confident and yet such a mess in your personal life and have so many neuroses. andilling to be vulnerable take the rejection -- it's just an interesting dichotomy, i think. >> are you open with your friends? >> yes. i have that stupid habit of

disclaiming my shortcomings quickly so that you cannot find them. [laughter] >> about all of these numerous ease -- neuroses. >> we know who at the table is the most competitive. i lean in and say, "who?" [laughter] >> how are you competitive? >> i don't know. i was a tomboy. my dad had me and my sister do all the sports. .oftball, soccer i think you have to be competitive in this business, just like the athletes. when the bells going off, they've got to really want the ball. i do. i want the ball. i just make myself sick beforehand, but i really wanted. [laughter] >> nice way to end. >> wanting the ball. [laughter] >> thank you. pleasure.

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>> this is "taking stock" for tuesday, august 5. i am pimm fox.