neglect the will of the people. neither in syria nor in any other country. >> i'm from the kuwait news agency. mr. secretary, my question has to do with the burning of the holy koran incident recently in afghanistan. this has not only indiginated the afghan people but the whole muslim world. so what steps are you taking to propose to avoid such incidents in the future. thank you. >> this is a very unfortunate incide incident. i can also clearly state that

the preliminary results are the investigations that have been initiated reveal that this incident was unintentional. the facts show that there was no malicious intent to mishandle religious material, and our commanders in afghanistan will make decisions about the appropriate next steps also to avoid such incidents in the future. having said that, let me also stress that what has happened will not in any way change our strategy and our way forward. the transition to lead afghan for the responsibility will continue according to the

timetable we outlined at our summit in lisbon in november 2010. and transition is on track, and we will also reaffirm our enduring partnership with afghanistan. >> defense news. >> secretary-general, on the connected forces initiative, could you give any more details on the new training and education activities you have in mind? i noticed in your munich speech you also mentioned opening up the extensive range of national facilities. could you expabd on what you meant by that. and the second question, are there any specific new technology interoperablity initiatives that are planned as

well. >> thank you. i think it's a bit premature to go into further details at this stage. i have launched the initiative. we are now working on this initiative to make it an integrated part of a defense package to be adopted at the summit in chicago. i see it also in the context of smart defense. smart defense is about acquiring capabilities the connected forces initiative is about making these capabilities work more closely and more efficiently together. in broad terms, the connected forces initiative is about stepping up our training and

educational activities. it's about reinforcing the nato response force. and that's a very important part of this. the more because the united states has decide d to invest more in the nato response force, the nato response force is an excellent lever for connecting european forces and north american forces. and the final strand of work will focus on technology in particular and how common standards can improve connectivity across the atlantic but also in more technical

terms, how we can use what is called adapters to make sure that different weapons systems can work more efficiently together. that's what i can tell you about it at this stig. we are now working on a more detailed plan to be integrated in the defense package to be adopted in chicago. >> thank you very much. i'm afraid that's all we have time for today. thanks. next up on c-span3, the senate foreign relations committee looks at president obama's 2013 budget request for the u.s. agency for international development or usaid. the agency administrator rajiv shah will testify at this hearing. it will be chaired by senator ben cardon.

the usaid budget for 2013 is anticipated to be 1.6% over 2012 levels. it falls under the state department's $51.6 billion budget request. and again, the hearing should get under way shortly. the reason for the delay, a couple of votes under way in the senate on judicial nominations. and then the hearing should get under way. earlier today, the senate fell short in their vote in advancing the transportation bill. the vote 52-44. they needed 62 yes votes to advance. and two republicans in that vote, senators brown and senator collins of maine joining democrats -- 48 democrats and two independents voting in favor of advancing the bill, but they have not advanced that transportation bill in the senate. meanwhile in the house, on the house side, transportation secretary ray lahood commented about the house's efforts on transportation. he said, the house bill that was

presented is very deficient in transit money and all kinds of safety programs. it's just not a good bill. the house this afternoon wrapping up work on a hydroelectric bill. you can follow the house on c-span.

waiting for the senate foreign relations ghot gavel in for their haurng the 2013 budget request for the u.s. agency for international development. a bit of a delay. there are a couple of votes in the senate on judicial

nominations. once those wrap up, this hearing should get under way. we'll have coverage later today on the c-span networks of the super tuesday primaries and the three caucuses. later today on the networks and c-span.org and c-span radio. up next, a brief update from the weekend's russian elections. this from this morning's "washington journal." >> andrew kramer with "the new york times" is joining us on the phone this morning from moscow. andrew kramer, let me begin with your headline in "the new york times" this morning. at chechnya polling station, votes for polling exceed the rolls. what happened in this voting place? >> thank you. this is just one polling place, and i was not -- i'm not from an observer mission, so i wouldn't want to extend what i saw here to russia as a whole or even to chechnya as a whole but i'll get to this in a bit. because some of the statistics speak for themselves. what happened was, i watched a

count where as they were flipping through the ballots, the electoral commission, members were growing somewhat nervous and it became apparent they'd have more ballots than they had registered voters for the district. and this can be explained by absentee voting and something called mobile voting where they carry the ballots to people who are home sick, for example. but i was offered three different explanations for how this happened, and in the end, they registered on a protocol, fewer votes than we actually saw counted. so it was a very confused scene. >> so andrew kramer, what does that mean then? what are people -- sources that you talk to, what are the implications of this? >> well, the implications are at the observers, as we've heard, are saying that the vote was not necessarily fair throughout

russia. and there might have been less about irregularities. so having witnessed that on a personal level, i drove that point home for me. i think also what this shows is that there are certain regions in russia, such as the north caucuses where wrongdoing in the electoral process is far more common than elsewhere. the final result from the region where i was in chechnya was 99% turnout and 99.8% support for mr. putin which is statistically improbable given just the fact that many people are -- some people were maybe sick or traveling, unable to vote and one would assume there would be at least a few supporters of other candidates. >> andrew kramer, you are in moscow today. tell us about the opposition groups and what they are planning for protest. do they continue? >> well, i think that's a little bit in question right now.

the next protest is the 10th of march. and there was something of a spirited atmosphere at the protests last night when police then arrested several leaders of the protest movement. i think the question is whether the protests are sustainable but also what the government's reaction will be which gets to a broader question of what putin's governance will be and what will be his third term as president. the system is sometimes called managed democracy. will there be more democracy or more management? >> what are you hearing? >> what happened yesterday with the police crackdown, the arrests, it looks like it's leaning towards more management. >> what are you hearing? do you suspect you'll hear officially from the russian government? >> no, i -- this is not something that's conveyed in an open manner. it's conveyed through signs such

as having police beat protesters or arrest them. >> so what are you watching for today and the weeks to come? >> i think there will be -- it will be important to see who is on putin's new cabinet. they'll probably be quite a few new figures there. the big issue is whether he will assert his authority as he did in -- after coming in 2000 by arresting an oligarch or businessman. so people are on the watch -- people are watching for something like that where maybe for example, a prominent bureaucrat whose business may be arrested on corruption charges. make simple dismissals of bureaucrats in a manner that >> andrew kramer with "the new york times" on the ground in moscow. thank you for the update. >> thank you. >> our guest here andrew weiss.

thank you for making it. i know the traffic here in washington can be tough sometimes. thank you. >> great to be here. >> let's just turn our attention to -- we just heard from the last caller about, you know, we need to deal with russia as it is and let the people of russia sort out who is going to be its leader and where it goes next. what's your reaction? >> i think russia is in the stage of building something brand new. putin created a system over the last ten years. we've seen real problems in the last few months with that system. outgrowing some of the socio economic gains. there's a big part of russian society, 25%, 30%, which feels they want a voice. they don't want to be subjects. they want to be citizens. we're seeing some of those growing pains righte question i with a big percentage of those people feeling very alienated. they feel like their rights as citizens have been trampled. survive his -- possibly his first term, six

years? >> putin is now in his essentially going to be in his third term. >> third term, right. but the first of probably another 12 years. >> right. i think what we're seeing is a system that's in transition. and this is unprecedented for putin. beautin basically created a political system where there was no public dissent. no mechanisms for channeling popular dissent. and they are talking about changing some of the basic rules of the road. we're going to see putin have to govern with give and take and that's something he hasn't had to do for the past periods in office. one of the key reforms they are talking about is allowing people to choose their own regional leaders. the regional leaders will no longer be people who take their cues from moscow but from voters. we're in a period of uncertainty and transformation. >> here's a quote from a putin supporter in the financial times this morning saying that if he does -- putin that is -- only half of what he has promised to do, we will soon be living in a completely different country.

>> that read to me as the comment of a putin dyed in the wool public supporter. and the person who said that is one of the sort of talk radio shock jock figures in the russian establishment. so for them, i think this is a period when they want to show to the authorities, we were right behind you. we've never doubted for a second that you were going to destroy your opponents. and that's what putin's public portrayal right now is. in russia, there's sort of a saying. it's not enough to win. you have to win with cruelty. we've seen a landslide victory where the difference between him and his nearest opponent was 40-some points. then what we've seen the osc saying elections are not supposed to be pregrmd you don't know the outcome in advance. that's the fundamental flaw in the russian electoral system. everyone anyhow what was going to happen. >> so you are questioning the credibility of this outcome? >> the dirty secret is putin

could have won a legitimate election but they prescreened out before the election anyone who was a credible alternative. and then in the end, it sort of negates for a big percentage of the russian public the fact that two-thirds of the russian electorate probably would have supported putin. >> go ahead. >> right now, russia is split into three parts. these big mega cities like moscow, a western style of life, western living standards. those are the people leading these protests. the remaining two-thirds are in smaller cities or in the provinces and those are putin's natural electorate. >> we'll get back to our viewers comments in a moment. first, andrew kramer is joining us on the phone from moscow. andrew kramer, let me begin with your headline in "the new york times" this morning. at chechnya polling station, votes for putin exceed the rolls. what happened here in this voting place? >> hello. thank you. well, this is just one polling place. and i was not -- i'm not from an

observer mission so i wouldn't want to extend what i saw here to russia as a whole or even to chechnya as a whole but i'll get to this in a bit because some of the statistics speak for themselves. what happened was, i watched a count where as they were flipping through the ballots, the electoral commission, a members were growing somewhat nervous and it became apparent they would have more ballots than they had registered voters for the district. and this can be explained by absentee voting and something called mobile voting where they carry the ballots to people who are home sick, for example. but i was offered three different explanations for how this happened. and in the end, they registered on a protocol fewer votes than we actually saw counted. so it was a very confused scene. >> so, andrew kramer, what does that mean then? what are people, sources that you talk to, what are the implications of this?

>> well, the implications are that the observers, as we've heard, are saying that the vote was not necessarily fair throughout russia, and there might have been less about stuffing and irregularities but nonetheless, questions about the fairness of this vote. and so having witnessed that on a personal level, i drove that point home for me. i think also, what this shows is that there are certain regions in russia, such as the north caucuses where wrongdoing in the electoral process is far more common than elsewhere. the final result from the region where i was in chechnya was 99% turnout and 99.8% support for mr. putin which is statistically improbable. given just the fact that that many people are -- some people would likely be sick or traveling, unable to vote. and certainly one would assume

there would be at least a few supporters of other candidates. >> andrew kramer, you are in moscow today. tell us about the opposition groups and what they are planning for protest. do they >> i think that's in question right now and the next is the something of an atmosphere in protest. and the protest has been arrested. whether they are sustainable and what the government's reaction will be to a broader question. >> they managed democracy and the question is will there be more democracy or management. >> what are you hearing? >> the arrest.

what are you hearing? do you support you are hear from the russian government? >> no. this is not something conveyed in an open manner, but conveyed through signs such as having placed the protesters or arrested them. >> what are you watching for in the weeks to come? >> i think it will be important to see who is on the new cabinet he will assert his authority after coming in 2000 by arresting an olegarch or businessman. people are watching for something like that. maybe for example the

bureaucrats and in a manner they assert the authority. >> on the ground in moscow, thank you for the update. >> your reaction to what you heard? >> i think that we don't need to wait for indications of putin's authority. putin believes he is created a system and presights over the system. he doesn't have a lot to prove. what putin wants is for impressions to catch up with that and importantly to him, impressions overseas. in some ways he is basically seeing the selection as a referendum on his previous president in office and feels that he has nothing to show anyone. he's top dog and that's what the system is about. russia is run on a structure and people look up for the next level above them and folks above them look to the next level up and he sits on top and he's not an auto krat.

there is plenty of room in the system for people to either ignore decisions or subvert them when they need to. people know that if they don't respond and they don't respond to the signals, a lot of which was andrew was saying, there is possible cost to them. >> richard, a republican in mountain view, california, we are talking about vladimir putin ascending to the russian president. what is your comment and question? >> thank you very much for c-span. in 1993, i was a member of the silicon valley group and asked by the committee and to go to russia and deliver a speech on how russia would be a market-driven economy. there i met vladamir putin. after that speech and being involved in russia for sometime there is many, many trips that

were made. >> all of that available online in our video library in c-span.org. we will take you live to the senate foreign relations committee. they are looking at the president's fiscal year 2019 budget request for international development and usa id and shaw will testify. this hearing is being chaired by senator ben cardin of maryland. >> back to the senate foreign relations committee. i want to first on behalf of the committee and on behalf of the deepest condolences on the loss of congress mman and on behalf foreign aid and assistance and humanitarian efforts and knew the continent better than donald payne. i had the opportunity to serve

with him and he was always a champion for involvement in the continent of africa and around the globe for the right reasons. he will be sorely missed in the congress of the united states. for naming fellowship for his name. i think it's a fitting tribute to the work he has done throughout his career and we offer or deepest condolences to his family. we have doctor shaw with us to provide testimony for usa's fiscal year 2013 budget request. as you know i believe that our international development assistance is a critical investment in america's security. i recognize dr. shaw and his team made tough choices in this year's request and i look forward to hearing those about our discussion today. i believe this is the budget this protects the interest and

maintains global leadership encouraging more efficient use of taxpayer dollars. the development along with the fence and diplomacy, it's one of the three critical prongs to help ensure america's national security. the subcommittee on international development and foreign assistance, i know how foreign investments and projects are not only the right thing to do, but they have an impact on global stability. often americans do not understand how the work on the state department affects their lives. aside from the humanitarian and moral imperative of improving lives in the world's neediest places, i would like to underscore how our development assistance overseas expands export markets and strengthens our domestic job market. we have an economic interest in what we do globally as far as our development is concerned. i will continue to bring

programs that bring greater governance to which they are implemented and applaud the effort to redouble our own transparen transparency. that's a good part to the involvement objectives. i also hold that empowering women is one of the most critical tools to fight poverty isy and injustice. gender immigration in programming and in planning and d.c. must be a central part of all of these programs. diyify anyone's assertion that women's empowerment should take a back seat to more important priorities. i put on that list the efforts to encourage land reform and many women around the world are doing the agricultural work and not getting the benefits. land reform is a critical part. i want to praise doctor shaw for your release of the new id policy for gender equality and

female empowerment that makes integrating jebder and women and girls central to all assistance. this policy that updates guidelines over 30 years old recognizes that the integration of women and girls is the basic to effective international assistance across all sectors like food, security, health, cloimate change, science and democracy and governance. it aims to increase the capacity of women and girls and decrease in equality between gender and decrease gender-based violence. secretary clinton pointed out more than 15 years ago women's rights are human rights. nothing is more fundamental. i will continue to oversight and advocate the programs of the subcommittee to receive appropriate funding and implementation with regard to these priorities and look forward to working with the department to achieve these goals. america's active engagement abroad serves economic and

strategic purposes and rooted in our national values. under the bipartisan initiative of the president's plan for aids relief, we have battled the spread of hiv in africa. today in conjunction with the fund to fight aids, malaria and tuberculosis, people are receiving treatment up from 50,000 in 2003. focus on dploebl health as well as the critical issue of foot security under the initiative of feed the future highlights the commitment to creating sustainable solutions to development challenges. with more than $15 million spent in afghanistan, usa id provides the largest assistance programs to that country and with that money and effort in african began, they received notable developments and should give credit where credit is due.