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eastern this morning, the house is in at noon. you can go ahead and start calling in right now on this question of the top foreign policy challenge facing the united states. this is in today's "wall street journal," three potential crises are proceeding in tandem right now, he writes, a potential russian invasion of ukraine, continuing chinese pressure on taiwan, and the potential collapse of the iran nuclear talks. any one of these standoffs has the potential to shape the world order and produce wider conflict. taken together, they signal that the u.s. and its allies are at a dangerous moment, perhaps more dangerous than many americans realize. president biden seeking to head off one of those challenges with that call, as we noted, a high-stakes call with russian president vladimir pickup town today. the front page of today's "hill" newspaper, up here on capitol hill, biden to offer a warning to vladimir putin. it was yesterday that white house press secretary jen psaki

talked about that call and had questions about what president biden would say. >> the focus of the meeting, as was announced when we announced it this weekend, is an opportunity for the president to underscore u.s. concerns with russian military activities on the border with ukraine and reaffirm the united states' support for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of ukraine. it's also an opportunity to discuss a range of topics in the u.s. and russia relationship, including strategic stability, cyber and regional issues. you can certainly expect that our concerns about it the military activities on the border will be a prominent part of the discussion. reporter: should americans be prepared for the likelihood to see american forces on the ground in the region in the event that russia does invade? >> i'm not going to get ahead of the president's conversations with our transatlantic partners, which is going to happen later this afternoon and we'll provide a list of who will be

participating in that call as soon as scheduling details are finalized. but i would say that our objective here is conveying diplomatically that this is the moment for russia to pull back their military buildup at the border, that diplomacy is the right path forward here, that we are going to continue to coordinate closely with our partners, our transatlantic partners, on a range of economic sanctions and steps that could be taken should president putin decide to move forward. >> and how would the white house characterize relations with russia heading into this call? >> i think our objective from the beginning of the president's time in office has not been to escalate the relationship, but has been to move to a more stable footing in the relationship. but certainly that means that we can raise concerns where we have them, specifically about areas like the military buildup we've seen on the border in ukraine. many of us lived through a

similar playbook back in 2014, and the president is not going to hold back in conveying his concern and also conveying our conversations and our preparations should they be warranted. we don't know that president putin has made a decision. we don't know that yet, but that's why this is an opportunity to have a conversation. but there's also an opportunity in this call to have a conversation about a range of topics where there can be mutual interest, whether it's iran's nuclear capabilities as a member of the p-5 plus one talks and what that looks like moving forward and other strategic stability issues where we have worked together in the past. host: that was jen psaki in the white house briefing room yesterday. that call expected to take place later this morning, and we'll, of course, bring you any updates on tomorrow morning's "washington journal" once we hear how that call goes. but that announcement, or the line of questioning about that call came after an announcement from the biden administration

yesterday on a different front. u.s. delegation will be sending no official delegates to the beijing winter olympics, the 2022 diplomatic boycott, the united states not sending any u.s. government officials to the winter olympics in february as "the washington post" notes. the protests, china human rights abuses, they're largely symbolic, "the washington post" notes. it does not affect the ability of american athletes to participate in the games. it will be seen as a major affront by washington's greatest military and economic competitor as china seeks to distract from its increasingly repressive policies at home and its aggression abroad. that from "the washington post," above the fold story this morning. a lot of things going on on the foreign policy front, and again, that also includes that summit for democracy that the biden administration is set to hold

this week. we're going to talk about this in the first hour of the "washington journal." want to hear your thoughts on the top foreign policy challenge facing the united states. it's 202-748-8001 for republicans. 202-748-8000 for democrats. and independents, 202-748-8002. we'll start on that line for democrats. this is portland, oregon, good morning. what's america's top foreign policy challenge? caller: well, i think as far as the military is concerned, let's deal with all the nuclear weapons we have and what would be the purpose of using them. host: and carl, where do you think the u.s. should come down on that? caller: well, building these things still, what would be the object, to massacre people

without any -- people maybe that don't -- that aren't an enemy of america? i don't see why the -- why they're still being produced. host: and funding for the nuclear program and all military programs wrapped up in this discussion about the national defense authorization act, waiting to see what happens with that yearly authorization bill. it's been held up, and the house and senate expected to continue discussions about it today and through this week, as we continue asking this question. what's the top foreign policy challenge facing the u.s.? jerry wilson, north carolina, what do you think? caller: yes, good morning. i think the foreign policy is losing our democracy. i want to ask you something, c-span, please. is brian lamb still there? do he have anything to do with

c-span anymore? host: we see brian lamb quite a bit around here. he's usually here in the mornings and says hello, about the same time we get into this program. caller: ok, the reason i ask, because when he was running the show, it seem like it's different stuff you all talk about now. i noticed the insurrection, we on the verge of losing our democracy. y'all haven't had one show about that. and i don't understand it, because it's very unlike brian lamb. host: we've had several programs about it, including one of the reporters here in washington, d.c. who's been covering those cases from the january 6 insurrection on capitol hill. he's been following all the trials. we talked about it for an hour on this program. we've had several others. caller: i haven't really seen them, and i think that should be a main thing. it seem like you guys be talking about policies that are really not concerning. we on the verge of losing our

democracy. host: jerry, i point you to c-span.org, go back and check out all the programming that we have and all of the segments here on the "washington journal," easy enough to find at c-span.org. temple, texas, good morning, democrat. caller: good morning. russia is trying to attack right now, when the president was saying that we weren't doing anything while he was trying to get a statement against biden, but like the gentleman who just talked said, we are in deep trouble now. i went to war to fight in vietnam because i had my voting rights given to me in 1965 and i joined the army in 1967. now they're trying to take away our voting rights. my wife's mother is 89 years

old, and she walks with one of those walkers because she can't lean over, and she cannot go and stand in no line for eight hours and wait to get a chance to vote. our voting rights are the most important thing for us, and this government has put everything ahead of them. i can understand covid, but the second thing they should have got on -- because if we can't vote, we're not going to put nobody else there. host: we're talking about foreign policy challenges amid a week in which there's a lot of action on that front. it was senate minority leader mitch mcconnell who took to the floor yesterday to talk about his views on how the biden administration has handled the foreign policy challenges facing

the united states. >> today's democratic party does not make the policy decisions of a party that is serious about protecting our country. in may president biden proposed a de facto cut in defense spending. that was before the the president's own super charged inflation further cut the purchasing power of every defense dollar. in august his afghanistan retreat shattered our allies' trust and delighted the terrorists. in 10 months in office, despite naïve happy talk from the administration, the threats we face are markedly worse. the vacuum they left in afghanistan has goldened terrorists from iran's malicious and iraq, syria and yemen to the highest ranks of the taliban's government. their desperation to return to a

failed nuclear deal has given iran the upper hand in negotiations. for four years, my colleagues, the democratic leaders, seem constantly focused on putin and russia, but now we putin applauding his power and russia engaged in attacks, weapons tests and troop buildups, crickets. and for all their talk about china's threat, we've seen no evidence that democrats in the united states should keep pace with the p.l.a.'s investments in nuclear and higher sonic weapons. we cannot short change our military modernization and have a player of competing with the people's republic of china or even the declining but dangerous russia republic. our colleagues across the aisle have missed one opportunity after another to ride the ship.

they have used the reconciliation process to pass trillions in new partisan spending without a cent for defending the nation. and despite the strong bipartisan work of our colleagues on the armed services committee, the democratic leader kept this year's defense authorization bill in limbo, literally for months. host: senator mitch mcconnell on the floor of the senate yesterday. we're talking about the top foreign policy challenge facing the united states. taking your phone calls, phone lines, as usual, republicans, democrats, and independents. this is carl, an independent out of massachusetts. good morning. caller: good morning. thank you for c-span. i think the biggest threat to the united states is washington, the pentagon, the international businesses, the arms dealers. you know, i think so what if china does better economically,

russia, whatever, we can trade with them. i'm sure we can negotiate with them. the chinese go in, and they invest in these poor countries. sure, they're making money, but they'll fix their infrastructure, and then the people over there welcome that. when we go in, we go in with boots on the ground, with drones, bombs, we're too quick, we're too quick with our military. were devastated during world war ii, and then with korea, with the korean war and all that, vietnam, the last really, really big bloody conflict we had in america was the civil war. so culturally, we feel immune to that. those countries, they're not going to be so quick to go to war. that's all propaganda.

host: in the summit for democracy that the biden administration is putting on later this week, on thursday and friday, i believe we're still waiting to see what's going to be available that we can air on c-span from that, but it's happening on thursday and friday of this week, so check your c-span listings for at least parts of that summit. but in today's "washington post," the treasury secretary, janet yellen, and then samantha power, the administrator of the agency for international development, wrote this column about that summit that's happening later this week. they write, representatives this week of more than 100 nations will gather virtually for president biden's summit for democracy. the gathering is a recognition that the world's democracies need a new strategy. for the past 15 years, they write, the number of people living under authoritarian regimes has been rising while leaders of many democratic countries have been chipping away at fundamental rights and checks and balances. corruption has made this possible, them say. autocrats use public wealth to

maintain their grip on power, while in democracies, corruption rots free society from within. unchecked conflicts of interest and the unequal application of the law erode our trust in common institutions. they say corrupt actors hide their money in the united states all the time. and we can no longer provide them a shadow under which to operate, combating corruption abroad therefore begins at home, and our first step must be to expose the owners of shell companies and other illicit funding. moving forward, the u.s. government will require many u.s. and foreign companies to report the true owners to the treasury department and to upgrade us when they change hands. and then they go through some of the other aspects that they'll be working on in this summit for democracy. again, it's happening on thursday and friday this week. part of this universe of events this week on the foreign policy front, so we're asking this morning, what's the top foreign policy challenge facing the united states? jerry, virginia, republican, what do you think? caller: yes, good morning.

well, i wouldn't expect a whole lot to come out of these talks, because we all know biden family has substantial interest in both russia and in china. so he's not going to say anything to anger either one of them. host: what should we be most worried about on the foreign policy front as a country? caller: make no mistake about it, china owns joe biden, lock, stock, and bank account. host: jerry in virginia. this is kevin in fort wayne, indiana, independent. good morning. caller: good morning. to this question, i think the anniversary of pearl harbor should bring us to reflect on the dangers and realities of dictators like china and mr. putin in moscow.

the rising strength of china's military, the aggressiveness of russia's military should remind us, again here on the anniversary of pearl harbor, that we must minimum taken a strong, vigilant military, and we must be prepared to defend our allies, in this case, to look towards the two aggressive countries, in the case of russia, european allies, we need to see if they will join with us to strengthen nato in defending countries like ukraine as it tries to maintain its strength and independence. and in the far east, where you look to china, we need to remind them in the strength as possible that taiwan is, again, an independent freedom-loving democracy that needs to be

defended. so the essence of which is the two greatest military threats to the united states and the western role, china, russia, and it's reflective of the pearls of 80 years ago, because these countries are being led by ruthless, blood-lusty dictators. period. host: 80 years since the attack on pearl harbor. it's pearl harbor remembrance day in this country. from our american history tv archives, this is the universal news reel that came out later that week, describing the japanese attack on pearl harbor back in 1941. >> december 7, 1941, a day of infamy. even as japanese diplomats were conferring with the secretary of state on peace measures, planes were sweeping down on pearl harbor.

this dictator record includes both u.s. films and pictures made by the enemy as they dropped their load of death on the naval base on wheeler field on civilian homes and schools. 100 japanese planes and a number of submarines took part in the attack. in an hour and five minutes, the battleship arizona was completely destroyed, and four others severely damaged. three other battleships and three cruises suffered damage. nearly 200 planes were destroyed. that sunday morning, the pacific fleet appeared to be completely immobilized by the sneak attack. nearly 3,000 casualties added to the catastrophe. within hours, the united states declared war. the attack on pearl harbor united americans as never before in history, and the explosions at pearl harbor forge would the will for complete and absolute victory over the forces of evil.

in hawaii, civilian and soldier alike turned to the task of caring for the wounded and homeless. at the time, an actual landing by the japanese was expected, and make-shift plans were made to fight the invader on the beaches and in the streets. the japanese lost five midget subs, as well as planes and men. small cost for the damage they were able to inflict on the u.s. fleet. two carriers had been on patrol and thus missed attack. these two ships led other units in the fleet in the battle of midway less than six months later, the first steps on the long road to complete victory. host: the universal news reel describing the attack on pearl harbor, december 7, 1941. on this pearl harbor remembrance day, it was president biden that released this proclamation on

remembrance day that reads in part, a decade ago, i paid my respects at the u.s.f. arizona memorial, where 1,177 crewmen lost their lives on that terrible december day. to this day, the president said beads of oil still rise to the surface of the water, met for cal black teas shed for those lost in the attack. reading those names etched in marble was a reminder of the sacrifices and human cost of protecting our nation, the ideals this great country represents. our nation remains forever indebted to all those who gave their last full measure of devotion eight decades ago. we will never forget those who perished, the president said, and we will always honor our sacred obligations to care for our service members, veterans, and their families, caregivers, and their survivors. part of president biden's proclamation on national pearl harbor remembrance day, 2021, 80 years after the attack on pearl harbor. back to your phone calls, as we hear from you on the top foreign

policy challenge facing the u.s. today. democrat from virginia, good morning. crystal, are you with us? got to stick by your phone. we'll go to jim, fort lauderdale, florida, republican. good morning, jim. caller: hi there. i hope my phone holds up. host: oh, it might not have, jim, try to give us a call back. brenda, houston, texas, democrat, good morning. caller: yes, good morning, and thanks for taking my call, john. let me complete what i want to say. it's going to be short. whatever challenge america faces is its own doing. with the corporate greed, i lived in the 1970's, and we made more men then than we do now in

2020's. the corporate greed of taking our jobs over there to a foreign country, whether it's slave labor, and then this racism just won't go away, this need for the inept to be important, god is not pleased. and god has destroyed nations before. america is on her way out. any thinking person knows that. the previous caller expressed concerns about democracy are totally, absolutely correct. we're all sitting around seeing our country melt, just melt in between, like water, trying to hold water in our hands, and it just doesn't appear to be to me the concern that i need to see, to feel comfortable. china have played this very,

very smart. white people have always thought that they were the superior race, but it appears to me china is going to win that award. host: brenda in texas. this is richard in minneapolis, minnesota, republican, good morning. caller: good morning. you know, i question the credibility of biden. hunter got this big shopping deal in moscow, and then they got a big deal in china, 150% went to the big guy -- 10% went to the big guy, which is biden. obama gave russia ukraine. and then china's very oppressive. taliban is a brutal dictatorship. what are we doing here? we're giving everything away. host: this is ray in colorado, independent. what's the biggest foreign policy challenge facing the united states? caller: good morning, thanks for taking my call. how are you this morning, john? host: i'm doing well. go ahead. caller: so, really, for me the big challenge regarding foreign

policy is unintended consequences. i think it's kind of coincidence for me to call on the day the u.s. was attacked pearl harbor, something we have looked back at is one of the reasons why we were attacked, and before we were attacked at pearl harbor, there was an oil embargo that was put. it i think a blowback by thomas johnson, which is a book about cost and consequences of american empire, and we had to think about the unintended consequences of our foreign intervention. so i think that's something we really need to reflect on. host: a lot of concern right now about russian buildup on the border with ukraine and eastern ukraine and russian-backed separatists there and what nato and the west would do if russian

invaded ukraine. what do you think would be the right response? caller: well, you're asking a registered libertarian. really, as far as i'm concerned, the best response is neutrality. host: that's ray in colorado. president biden set to, as "the wall street journal" puts it, warn president putin today on ukraine. that conversation expected to happen around lunch time today. it was yesterday on capitol hill that republican senator marco rubio spoke to reporters on options to counter russian aggression. this is what he had to say. >> there are potentially a number of sanctions that could be put in place that would be triggered by an invasion, someone like putin, i think it's very important for him to know what the costs are of that sort of invasion before he calculates

the benefits and wales the benefits against it. i think the other challenge is going to be, not so much congress, but certainly could be supportive, how our allies in europe, who are more conveniently affected by it. this is a potential crisis for nato if an invasion were to happen. it would be a real test of the alliance, given ukraine is not a member. we have a number of alliance members that would react very forcefully, particularly in central europe that see russia as a real immediate danger. and i think it can be a real test on that. and at the same time, i think you've already seen some of the disinformation work that's being done by putin. we're getting a real clear picture in real time of what this warfare looks like, where you go into a country and you start both on the global scale and inside that country you start creating the pretext for taking military action. ukraine is going to be the ones that are provoking it, that russian-speaking minorities are about to be killed if russia doesn't intervene. you already see some of the

informational warfare, and i think that needs to be countered so congress can be help nfl providing the resources for that. host: republican senator marco rubio on capitol hill yesterday. more from that "wall street journal" reporting. this on the kremlin response to the administration, talking about the warnings they'll be giving ahead of this virtual meeting. on monday, the kremlin spokesman told russia's channel one state television that mr. putin was right to listen to mr. biden's proposals on settling the situation in ukraine, but cautioned against excessive expectations. aside from the situation in ukraine, "the wall street journal" notes mr. biden intends to raise issues of cybersecurity and iran's nuclear program. again, that call happening around lunch time today. paul, virginia, republican, good morning, you're next. caller: good morning, john, thank you for c-span. wonderful benefit to our nation. i think the united states is at

the most pivotal point in the last 45 years in regards to international disputes, international challenges, and frankly, potentially war. putin knows muscle and knows cash. i don't know what biden knows. but if you want to check putin, you've got to do something and get in his face a little bit. you can always stand down and step back, but putin only respects people who step to him and put their nose to his nose and say, hey, let's roll, i hate to say it. and else the same way. he is pushing us at every opportunity, all across the globe. they just opened up -- they're just now negotiating for an atlantic side port, the chinese are, on the atlantic ocean in africa. be the first time the chinese can project their power that way. america's greatest strength habits naval surface warfare capabilities. well, the chinese have now developed technology that neutralized that, much like the french did in the balklands war.

the chinese have technology to take our whole platform of carriers, submarines, but take them out of play. we are in a very, very dangerous situation, and it has to be obviously extremely delicately managed. but we are really, really, really there. and i'm hearing crick he says from the -- crickets from the early libertarian caller, kudos to you for saying it, i don't believe what you're saying, stand down, but the europeans have to step up. you listen to the lit winnians, they're ready to roll. the polish are ready to roll. host: several presidents have dealt with vladimir putin. who's best the best at stepping up and showing that strength that you say is the only thing that he respects? caller: we really haven't had anybody like that, other than president trump who walked it both ways with putin. he figured a route whereby he could sort of placate putin and putin played him like a

marionette as well, but they kept everything cool, you know? that was there. but biden looks so weak that i think anybody who has any aspirations for more in the world is going to try putin now, and i actually told my wife, something is going to go down between now and valentine's day, we are going to get into it with the russians. and he's a nut. i mean, he's a nut. he understands money. putin is all about the power. he's done this before. he has a track record of taking other countries over, and europeans watched it the last time, and he has no indication now to suggest that they will not just stand by and watch it. and that's my fear. why are we having all these conversations about a conversation to thwart his advances? what you do is fire up the second airborne and show some pictures of farther bragg loading people on to air transports. that's a message that pickup inunderstands. host: that's paul in alexandria, virginia, this morning. a few comments from our social

media feeds. on twitter, this is party of fear, stronger ties to nato to show russia is an overwhelming force not to be toyed with. russia loves to play chess games is the comment. this is another, what scares me the most no matter what joe biden does with foreign policy, i'm afraid republicans are in the background trying to tear it down, because republicans don't want joe biden to have any kind of success. steven on twitter saying putin and china are bullying ukraine and taiwan have a right to which defend themselves, give them everything they need also iran's nuclear weapons should be taken out with force. american joe saying the top challenge is to stop antagonizing the rest of the world. a few comments from social media. it's @cspanwj on twitter, and facebook.com/cspan. or you can do what john did, call from the pennsylvania turnpike in breezewood, pennsylvania, democrat.

john, good morning. caller: good morning. first off, i want to give a shout out to that guy in colorado, libertarian, what he said was exceptional. but i'd like to point out that the greatest fear that we need to have in international releases is actually controlling the fascist inside america today, the corporate construction that took our jobs to china has made us so weak that we are dependent on china for our pharmaceuticals. as far as europe goes, they're dependent on russia for their energy needs. russia could just turn off the tap at any time and freeze europe out. they've become so dependent on solar and wind, and now with the winter coming in, the high natural gas prices, russia could walk into anywhere simply by buying it or shutting off the natural gas. what's he going to do if russia turns the gas off?

host: your shout out at the beginning was to the caller who said that ukraine wasn't our problem, right? caller: yeah. we have no alliance to them. we went there, i said he was right in some of the things he said. host: how would you respond to this on this twitter? this viewer writes, hitler took poland, and that was also not our problem, until it was. caller: that is correct. unfortunately, europe is not going to do anything, i don't care what the caller said. they turn the natural gas off into europe, and they are sitting there freezing. do you honestly think the european people are going to go to war with their energy supply? ukraine was treated by the obama administration, by financing the coup deat a time in ukraine, so we helped create this mess. host: that's florida, independent, good morning.

caller: good morning. i was particularly intrigued by your first caller. my father joined the military in 1945, and he served till 1965. and all that time he was in the military, he didn't have the right to vote. so i think our biggest foreign policy is right here in the united states. and that is we have to get our act together, because right now we're dealing with voting issues again. and people gerrymandering elections so they can stay in office. our own former president said our election system is rigged. so how can we move about having a democracy summit and talking about foreign policy if our homeland is not in order? host: richard in florida. it's a little after 7:30 on the east coast. we're having this conversation this first hour of the "washington journal" on your top

foreign policy challenge challenge facing the united states. a preview of the schedule today on capitol hill, the senate is in at 10:00 a.m. eastern. the house is in at noon. but house committees holding hearings already this morning. coming up in about two hours, at about 9:30 eastern, a hearing before the house oversight and reform committee on examining worldwide threats and foreign terrorist organizations, including al qaeda, isis and others, that available at 9:30 eastern. you can watch it on c-span.org. and then later this afternoon, 2:00 p.m., we're expecting a white house briefing. jen psaki will brief reporters, and we may have information then on how that phone call went with vladimir putin. joe biden's virtual phone call. and then one more hearing this afternoon, 2:30 eastern, the undersecretary of state for political affairs will be before

the senate foreign relations committee. that on c-span3, 2:30 p.m. eastern. you can also watch on c-span.org. all of this available on our free c-span now video app. so plenty of foreign policy conversations throughout the day that you can watch on the c-span networks. earl out of indiana, republican, what do you think the top foreign policy challenge is facing the united states today? caller: i think we are in deep trouble, because biden has no inkling of what's going on. the vice president, she knows nothing. and what we're headed for, people will be blinded to the truth. we're headed for a global war, which is the battle of armageddon, and everything centers around israel. people do not realize what the second world war was about. host: earl in indiana. this is mara in amount lake city, utah, democrat.

good morning. caller: good morning. i want to thank the screener for allowing me to speak on the air. i am of advanced age now. and i've been watching c-span since 1979. when it suddenly popped on the channel lineup. regarding the -- exactly how to put it, top foreign policy challenge, thank you. i think it's obvious to me at least that russia and china are our biggest foreign policy -- i'm sorry -- i've been up all night. i'm usually more articulate than this, but russia and china are the problem. i think it they both have nuclear weapons now.

but i really don't think that they will use them on us, because it's a guarantee of mutual destruction. both nations have enough nuclear weapons to blow the whole planet. and i think that self-preservation is the most basic instinct that humans have. host: on the nuclear weapons front, one of the three potential global crises that is tacked about today in the column in "the wall street journal" is the collapse of the iran nuclear talks, saying it's one of those issues that's perhaps more dangerous than many americans realize. a focus on that by the editorial board of the "washington times" today. they write that the negotiations held in vienna meant to bring iran into compliance with the 2015 nuclear pact came to a

screeching halt on friday when the middle eastern nation demanded that complete economic sanctions relief must precede its agreement to comply with limits on uranium enrichment. it's the past hoe years have taught anything, it is that iran has no intention of relinquishing its quest to serve its own existence by acquiring the power to anew hail its neighbors. the united states is left with only one recourse, they say, defend its vulnerable allies with unblinking vigilance until the long-suffering iranian people find their courage to replace their bullying masters. until that day, they say further talks are likely to be a nuclear waste of time. jesse in florida, republican, good morning, you're next. caller: yes, sir, i think probably the biggest challenge we have in the foreign policy arena is we don't realize our limitations. we should use our resources to support things that are of vital

interest to the united states. ukraine, if ukraine goes under, that doesn't really affect the united states. we have no vital interest in ukraine. we need to limit our resources, especially our military resources, to things that really matter to the american people. ukraine goes under, it doesn't affect the american people at all. host: what would you classify as our vital interests? where are the places you think we up need to focus our resources? caller: i think we need to focus our resources on our own people. we have problems here that extend far beyond the military, and certainly we don't need to go butting into other people's businesses and trying to prop up governments that are not even friendly to us.

we do that all the time. host: what about governments that are friendly? how do you feel about the nato alliance? caller: i think the nato alliance needs to pay more for their own expenses. i think we need to belong to nato, but certainly we should not be the majority contributor there. we're not the ones that's most in danger. i think we need to start using our resources for american priorities. host: doris is in atlanta, georgia, democrat. good morning. caller: good morning. i think our top foreign policy challenge is that we are weak from within. we're not going to be able to fight russia, china, or any other country because we have people in this country who are saying and telling us, just boldly, they would rather see this country destroyed rather

than for us to work together in order to fight any enemy. we have people who are ready to destroy the democracy of this country and turn to people like trump t. and an authoritarian government. that's what they want. host: jean, pennsylvania, independent, good morning. caller: good morning, and god bless you. i wanted to remind everybody what december 7 really is, a national day of remembrance from pearl what are bar. -- harbor. i vanity even seen it on any post this morning. we're the greatest nation in the world, with the most godly men and women, who since day one have defended us. i do not rely on the government to keep me safe. it is our military, our good

people, and people of faith. i can't hear you, honey. host: i'm lisping to you, jean, keep going. caller: i just wanted to say, these are anxious times for people. but we won a world war and many other things since through the faith of god and good people who gave their last good measure for us. the political angst back and forth with immortal men, i trust god, and we know that we are the greatest, freest nation in this world, and every day we should pray and be thankful. host: that's jean from pennsylvania. one other story from today's papers on the 8 0eth anniversary of the attack on pearl harbor, from the metro section of today's "washington post," telling the story of the twin

brothers leo and rudolph who were 16 when they applied to join the navy. they were so young that their navy had to go to the recruiting office in omaha and give them permission. rudolph wanted the navy career, leo wanted to learn a trade. it was 1938, and the boys slept with their family in a two-bedroom house in a neighbor of russian immigrants in lincoln, nebraska. they enlisted that may. three years later on december 7, 1941, they were killed when their ship, the u.s.s. oklahoma, was sunk during the japanese attack on pearl harbor. for 78 years they rested among hundreds of the ship's fallen who were recovered but never identified, buried as unknowns in a cemetery in hawaii. then in 2019, a remarkable pentagon forensics project identified them as part of an effort to put names with all of the ship's unknowns. now, after identifying the bones of the boys and almost 400 other own own men, the defense p.o.w./m.i.a. accounting agency is closing down the program. on tuesday, the 80th anniversary

of that attack, the last of the remains that could not be identified will be reburied in honolulu's national memorial cemetery, known appears the punch bowl. if you want to read more on that program and those men from today's "washington post," the metro section. jim, pennsylvania, republican, good morning. caller: good morning. i would like to first off like the lady just said, i would like to thank all the veterans, all the serving military personnel, all the police officers that keep us safe on a daily basis. my second thing is i just heard that joe biden is going to send 18 million gallons of oil reserve crude oil to china. is mr. biden supplying the oil for the chinese military actions over there in china?

i do believe our biggest foreign policy challenge would be to get rid of mr. biden. mr. biden is a disaster. disaster. look what he is leading us into. host: that's jim in pennsylvania. perhaps referring to this fox business story, focusing on president biden's move to release some of u.s. strategic petroleum reserve. fox business saying it's expected to supply chinese and indian oil needs as gas demands have led to global shortages. the white house said the energy department announced recently that it would release 50 million barrels of oil held in the reserve, 18 million of which had been congressionally approved for sale. china and india have been actively purchasing u.s. crude oil produced in the gulf of mexico. crude containing the higher level of sulphur, and we talked about the release of that, an

effort by the biden administration to help lower gas prices and inflation at the pump. alan in east chicago, indiana, democrat, good morning. caller: good morning. good morning, so nice to see you today. all praises to the veterans on this day. god bless them all. i wish we could do a lot more for our disabled veterans that we have out in this country i'm worried about. i would also like to say, a couple of things about foreign policy. i'd like to see you have another show on it. you have in the past. i think we need to re-evaluate our foreign aid. i'd like to have a discussion on our continuing support of israel and the occupation of palestine. i really think that we're on the

wrong side in that. especially what's happening to the palestinian people, and i would like to see if we can have a discussion on that sometime. i think we should look at that twice. and the second thing is, i think we should leave iran alone. we have messed with those people for decades and they are only reacting to us, continually beating them with a stick. and i'd like to see it seize a that. and we are a sovereign state, and we do have a right to defend themselves, especially after what we did in iraq. and that's with it. thank you for taking my call. i love "washington journal," best show on tv. host: thomas, democrat, you're next. caller: good morning. i am calling to -- disabled american veteran, and we respect

the lives that were lost 80 years ago, but nobody mentioned all the lives lost in vietnam. only young men, 18, 19 years old are gone. we have been at war for 20 years, in war. we cannot prosper if we going to continue to fight wars. we have to think about america. we have to determine that we got to fight for what's right here. and if we do, we will win t. we can't keep dividing and we can't keep fighting race against race in america. we're not together. we divided. so we have to come together and stop this. we can't even protect our schools from killings t. do not pass bills to protect gun laws.

our youth are being destroyed in wars and our own homeland. let's protect america. host: thomas, i wonder your feelings on the withdrawal of afghanistan and the end of that 20-year war. caller: same thing with vietnam. we had vietnam in the same situation. with vietnam, we run out of there, we left things, same thing did over there. we always about in. we leave equipment. we leave people. we leave the country destitute and broke. so it's no different from then and now. they forget about the vietnam war and what happened. it's no different than it is in this war. host: thomas in north carolina. florida, republican, good morning, you're next. caller: i would like to discuss our american bar association and the fact that we have so many

lawyers in our government, and then they employ 80,000 lawyers themselves. host: help me understand how that gets to america's biggest foreign policy challenge t. caller: well, the fact that, how can we run our country when our judicial system is so corrupt? host: we're focusing on american's top foreign policy challenge, we only have a few minutes left in this segment to do that and plenty of callers who want to talk about that subject. republicans, 202-748-8001. democrats, 202-748-8000. independents, 202-748-8002. this is daniel out of pennsylvania, democrat, good morning. caller: hi, good morning. you hear me? host: yes, sir. caller: ok. if i may, pearl harbor.

it's a new casual list. february 17, the navy department announced a new casualty list today, including the names of 21 dead, positive wounded, and 17 missing which brought to 23,282, the total number of marine and coast guard casualties announced since pearl harbor. the list included my uncle, first class lawrence murphy, and the story i got prosecute my other uncle. a proclamation from congress is he said that he had gotten locked behind -- locked them

behind something when he had gone back to rescue someone. and the uncle that told me this, he was in the pacific on a destroyer at nighttime, and someone had fallen overboard. he jumped in after him. and then he told me that it takes 60 miles for the destroyer to turn around. luckily they found them. he got a medal and all that stuff. i asked him why, and would you have done something like that? and he said, well, he had red hair, and he was a good guy. well, is that some bizarre tribalism or something? he said i guess so. and thank you for taking my call. bye. host: daniel in pennsylvania. and this is anna in clayton, north carolina, independent. good morning.

caller: good morning. i am an immigrant from ukraine, and i just want to say that, for me, and i'm a historian as well, so i studied history of russia and ukraine for a long time. and what i see, like one caller before said that america has to leave them alone, because those countries are basically the same people. ukrainian and russians, they have the same language, same culture, same religion, and what's going on, they have problems with their government. it's just the governments who want to fight, start the civil war. and people don't want to fight because they're brothers and sisters. thank you. host: that's anna in north carolina. our

>> certainly johnson's secretaries knew because they were tasked with transcribing many of the conversations. in fact, there were the ones that make sure that the conversations were taped, as johnson would signal to them through an open door to his office. >> you will also hear some blunt talk. >> i want a report of the number of people assigned to kennedy or me the day he died.

>> presidential recordings. find them on the c-span now mobile app, or wherever you get your podcasts. c-span is your unfiltered view of government. we are funded by these television companies and more, including cox. >> cox is committed to providing eligible families access to affordable internet. bridging the digital divide one engaged community at a time. cox, bringing us closer. >> cox supports c-span as a public service along with these other television providers, giving you a front row seat to democracy. host: