had his faults, his accomplishments are often overlooked, including bringing the country back to normalcy after world war i and an economic plan that led to the warning 20's -- roaring 20's. >> he finishes last in more presidential surveys then any other president. what has been said about him is really in the realm of myth. there's a lot of myth about harding and falsehoods. when you look at his true record and what he accomplished as president, it is quite impressive. >> ryan walters tonight at 8:00 eastern on c-span's q&a. you can listen to q&a and all of our podcasts on our free c-span now app.

host: good morning and welcome to washington journal. tensions are rising in europe as russia sits poised on the ukrainian border. troops ready for a possible invasion. joe biden and his administration have been meeting with nato allies and the ukrainian president in hopes of stopping vladimir putin but no one knows yet what russia's next move will be. president biden will meet with the national security council on the ukrainian crisis as u.s. officials try to broker some kind of solution with russia. our question to you this morning, what should the biden administration's next steps be? we open regular lines this morning. that means republicans, you can call (202)-748-8001. democrats, your number is going

to be (202)-748-8000. independents, you can call (202)-748-8002. you can always text us at (202)-748-8003 and we are always reading on social media on facebook at facebook.com/c-span, on twitter @c-spanwj and instagram @c-spanwj. the biden administration has been meeting with its european allies and ukrainian officials this last couple of days to come to some type of solution with the russia-ukraine border crisis. earlier today in munich, germany vice president kamala harris spoke to reporters. she discussed the ongoing situation regarding the russia-ukraine border crisis and the nato alliance. here is what vice president kamala harris had to say. [video clip]

vp harris: this was an important trip to be here today. we are looking at a moment that is very decisive. certainly one of the founding reasons for nato which is european security and the connection and alliance between europe and the united states. this was a productive trip in terms of the extensive meetings that we had that were further ment of collaboration with our allies. as you know, this is a moment that is very dynamic. it is not every hour, certainly every day, there seem to be new moments of interest and intelligence.

and so -- we have affirmed, however, that this alliance is strong. about as strong as it was before and that this alliance has purpose and meaning founded on shared principles that are very much at play right now. as i mentioned yesterday, if we think about those principles one of the most important is about mutual respect from sovereignty and territorial integrity. that is what is at play in terms of russia's posture as it relates to ukraine. at stake is the nato alliance in terms of our unity, joining together through, sometimes, compromise, certainly always collaboration to be a unified voice, especially when these

founding principles are being compromised if not attacked. host: let's find out what the latest is on the diplomatic efforts between the united states, ukraine and russia. we bring on alex ward, national security reporter at politico. alex, good morning. guest: thank you for having me. host: first of all, react to what vice president kamala harris said. is that any new information? did we learn anything new from her talk earlier today? guest: not really. it is the stand the administration has taken this whole crisis. however, this is somewhat more about ukraine, european security, world order, this is about whether or not the nato alliance has weathered, if it is as strong.

what she affirmed is this is how big the administration sees it. it is about european security. it is not only about ukraine but order and to affirm that the alliance is strong and stronger then when the crisis began. i think this is more signaling to put in than anything --putin more than anything that you have strengthened your enemies, or perceived enemies. host: why should we care about ukraine and russia right now? is that something we should be concerned about or solely a european problem? guest: it depends on how far out you want to look. in the immediate term it does not look like there are going to be u.s. troops in ukraine. if that is your number one concern, you do not have to worry about it. if you're worried about refugees

flooding into europe from ukraine, if you are worried about another land war in europe, the largest we might see since 1945, if you are worried about humanitarian suffering, you can care about ukraine. if that does not get you, the other thing you should think about is a more advancing russia and creating a fault line between eastern europe and western europe. or i should say, non-nato eastern europe and nato plus western europe. this looks very cold warish and you do not want a standoff -- as many countries have nuclear weapons -- and a spiraling situation. if that does not get you, no, do not care about the situation. host: the president said last week an invasion of ukraine could happen any day now with russia. what do we know? is there more information than that now?

is there a timetable we should be looking toward? guest: two things you should be looking at. today, february 20, is the day most analysts were looking at we would get a better sense of putin's intentions. it is when the military exercises and, it is the end of the munich conference, the end of the olympics, so this is about the time we will get a sense of where putin is at. it is mostly the belarus-russia exercises. they promised, at least initially, russian troops would head home. that changed yesterday when it seems they were saying, no, we have to do inspections and only the presidents are the ones that can get them to leave. if they duly belarus, do they go

back to their garrisons or elsewhere in ukraine? i cannot confirm this unless i am on the ground but if you believe in certain social media reporters have been showing indicated there is a large movement of russian military equipment on the ukraine border now. more than we have seen closer to the actual front. now that we have reached february 20 may be in the days ahead we will see an offensive but diplomacy is still open and we have not seen a large-scale invasion yet. one can hope to avoid war. host: as you mentioned earlier president biden has stressed sanctions not american boots on the ground. are all of our allies and nato on board with sanctions instead of military action? guest: military action seems firmly off the table. you will even see republicans in the united states say we don't want that. if the u.s. is not willing to go

in militarily, i doubt the europeans are. in terms of sanctions, i think we have to be careful when we talk about sanctions. i think there is agreement there will be certain actions taken against the russians. the one thing people will look for is, well, is the u.s., germany, france going in at once? that is not how that works. the u.s. can go in quickly with the first sanction. then you can expect certain european countries will do their own sets of moves which are intricate shortly after. the eu, you can think of it as a tanker. but when sanctions go on they are hard to come off. i think you can expect a series of actions, especially when it comes to sanctions on russia, but we should be careful if you see the u.s. move first and the europeans move second and a larger eu move, do not think of that as disunity.

those are technical steps that need to be taken. the short answer is i think there is unanimity that will not be uniformity in terms of the reaction. host: secretary of state antony blinken is supposed to be meeting with the russian foreign minister later on this week. what can we expect come out of this meeting and how important is this meeting? guest: it will happen only if there is not renewed larger invasion of ukraine. if it is to happen, it is another opportunity for both sides to find a deal. and more russia to make a deal because the u.s. has put options on the table. arms control, military exercises, and are willing to discuss those. whether there is an outcome we don't know but we have been wondering, how serious are the russians? especially considering they have been offering maximalist positions.

if they are willing to not invade ukraine and settle for arms control and scope of military exercises, maybe we can avoid the worst and this administration, rightly, is always leaving the door to diplomacy open. but it will shut the moment it looks like the russians have fully gone into ukraine and we heard from president biden last week and other u.s. and world leaders they feel the decision has been made already. it is a slim chance but why not keep the door open until the last moment? host: one last question. outside of an actual invasion of ukraine this week by russia what should we be watching when it comes to the russia-ukraine border crisis? guest: you should be looking for increased fighting in the donb ass. you should be looking for where the troops line up in belarus which are supposed to be heading back to garrisons.

you should look for citizen mobilization inside of kyiv. does the mayor organize his civilian movement? do you see a change in the ukrainian military's posture within the country? even before that the real telltale sign the russians are going at it is if you see a large cyber attack on ukraine, missiles flying elsewhere in the country and if you see russian war jets flying above ukraine. it will not be tanks rolling in. it will be that initial barrage. if you see that, i think the door to diplomacy is closed and we will see, unfortunately, a large land war in europe. host: we would like to thank alex ward, national security reporter for politico, for walking us through what is going

on with the russia-ukraine border crisis. thank you for your time this morning. guest: thank you for having me. host: president joe biden will be meeting with the national security council today on the issue of ukraine and the hill has a story this morning i want to bring to you. i want to remind you if you want to talk about the russia border crisis, you can call in now. republicans, (202)-748-8001. democrats, (202)-748-8000. independents, (202)-748-8002. let's go to the story from the hill. president biden will be convening a national security council meeting on ukraine sunday, jen psaki said in a statement saturday. president biden continues to monitor the evolving situation in ukraine as being updated regularly about events on the ground by his national security team. they reaffirmed russia could launch an attack against ukraine

at any time, she said. she added the president had received an update on vice president harris' meeting at the munich security conference. meanwhile, the ukrainian president tweeted earlier saturday that he had an urgent conversation with french president emmanuel macron. the shelling of politicians and international journalists, discussed the possible ways of immediate de-escalation and political diplomatic settlement. this comes as officials estimate up to 190,000 russian troops have been amassed near the ukrainian border. earlier this week russia claimed it pulled back some of its troops but nato and u.s. officials said it appeared russia was doing the opposite. that is from the hill newspaper with president biden convening

the national security council later today to talk about ukraine. we want to know what you think the border crisis. james is calling from new port richey, florida on the independent line. good morning. caller: good morning. we have been given the -- the ukrainian military has the missiles. i think we should give put in something to worry about and said we given the ukraine cruise missiles the ukrainian military can program to aim them where putin might be staying in his residence or whatever and let him think about him being the casualty of this war. it would give him something to think about, a dozen or so fired at where he might be.

isaac you might think twice about what he is doing -- i think he might think twice about what he is doing. host: [indiscernible] caller: i am talking about giving the ukrainian military cruise missiles. maybe they can attach them to a satellite and tell putin -- maybe a blessed -- but the ukrainians can hit him and let him be a casualty. he always has these other people getting wounded or killed. he might be a casualty of his own doing. the cruiser missile, i do not think they can pick it up that easy on radar. if the ukrainians have a dozen or so, tell him we have a dozen,

and they are aimed at him. let him really get involved with his war. host: jeremiah calling from washington, d.c. on the democrat line. good morning. caller: hi. my comment is that there is not much we can do sadly. i am a democrat. i do not like putin. i feel sorry for the ukrainians but russia is sitting on a lot of munitions. they have not been involved in many wars like the united states. they have not spent their munitions. their population is not tired of war like ours is. we can do a lot of stuff on the economic side, freezing the oligarch's money and all that. on another point that involves a previous administration and their policy toward ukraine and russia i hope republicans are

thinking about that moment when lavrov was invited into the oval office by trump and trump shared state secrets with him. i think republicans got to take a look at how treasonous and terrible that incident was. host: let's go to rob calling from to port crane, new york on the independent line. caller: i cannot believe c-span. every day you are russia, ukraine, russia, ukraine. have a great day. host: let's go to ethel calling from new york city on the democrat line. good morning. caller: good morning. i cannot believe i am following that call. i am disturbed about the vice president's manner of speaking.

i cannot say it myself, she needs elocution of speech. she drives me crazy. she is out there representing us. why doesn't someone tell her she has to speak with passion like the dull thing she is reading. if trump had been president now, we would be sunk. that is my thought for the day. thank you for taking my call, jesse. host: let's go to les calling from dodge city, kansas on the republican line. caller: i have a message for vladimir putin. i think you need some more tanks, vladimir. those kindergartners are very tough. i heard they might even join nato. you better watch out for them kindergartners. they are pretty tough.

they might whip you. host: john calling from bedford, new york on the democrat line. caller: good morning. with russia's focus on the ukrainian situation this might be a good time to amp up efforts to encourage and enable democracy in russia which is so badly beaten down. host: all right. yesterday ukrainian president volodymyr zelensky spoke at the munich security conference. he criticized the western response to the russian annexation of crimea in 2014 and the responses of international organizations like the united nations. here is what the ukrainian president had to say. [video clip] >> how do we get to this point in the 21st century where the war is being raged and people are dying in europe? it is longer than world war ii. how did we end up in the biggest

security crisis at the end of the cold war? to me, the president of the country who lost thousands of its people, surrounded by 150,00 0 with heavy machine urinary on machinery on the border, this is no longer working. they are neither catching up know i being effective in overcoming them like a cough syrup instead of a good covid vaccine. the security system is slow and failing us time and again because of different things, arrogance, and a responsibility of countries on the global level. some countries are committing crimes while others resort to indifference. indifference that will turn them

into accomplices. 15 years ago it was the russian federation that made the statement here putting the challenge to the global security. how did the world respond? appeasement. what do we have as a result? the annexation of crimea and aggression of my country at the very least. the u.n., which was called, said security cannot protect itself when its charter was being violated. the u.n. itself is ignoring the crimean platform established to deoccupy. it was here years ago when angela merkel said, putin can pick up the pieces of the world's puzzle. only all of us together.

the room stood up to applaud. unfortunately, it failed to turn into collective action. now that the world is talking of threat of a big war, is there anything left to pick up? the security architecture of europe and beyond is almost destroyed. it is too late to talk about fixing it. it is high time for a new one. host: let's see what our social you followers are saying about what the blind do next and the russia-ukraine border crisis. here is one post from facebook that says, putin plays the game of blackmailing the world with his crazy acts just like the little rocket man in north korea. sad state of affairs. i say sanction them to know and and ignore the dictators. here's a tweet that says, putin is acting like hitler. naked aggression by russia. bloodbath in the making. here's a text that says, the

president needs to arrange another call with putin, and nancy has a commitment from putin not to invade, and start to bring back deployed troops. talks can still go on but the brinkmanship can end. another that says, maybe when vice president harris gets home she can visit the southern border. a tweet that says, the most astonishing turnabout in the history of american politics is the desperate eagerness with which the dop are and neighboring --gop are enabling put in. this after 50 years of lacerating the former ussr is what reagan called "the evil empire." this one says, russia should de-escalate and go home. ukraine is not a threat and

anyone just once to be left alone. the lines are open. republicans, (202)-748-8001. democrats, (202)-748-8000. independents, (202)-748-8002. shirley is calling from goldendale, washington on the republican line. caller: good morning. hello, c-span. i want to say america needs to take care of america. we have our own situations and putin just wants control of the oil and gas out of burisma into france and germany and the european nations. the european nations need to suck it up and start defending their own problems -- let's not forget who was involved with burisma that is in the white house. thank you.

have a good day. host: john calling from lindenhurst, new york on the independent line. good morning. caller: morning. thank you for taking my call. host: go ahead. caller: i agree with the previous caller on the phone. why should we get into another bloody war and send our boys and girls over, come back with no legs or dead? let germany and france take care of it and nato -- ukraine should not be in nato. ukraine should not be in the eu. let's just stay out of it. host: let's go to nick calling from los angeles, california on the republican line. good morning. caller: hello, sir.

good morning. my name is nick and i am in california. i have a ci5 squad friend since 1989. this did not happen just now. this used to happen a long time ago he used to tell me. russia used to come into our country to visit. they might have talked to somebody else for them to attack anybody and that is terrible. it is terrible. host: let's go to philip calling from new york on the independent line. good morning. caller: good morning. i am wondering, russia does not

need more land. i am wondering about resources. is he looking for lithium or oil? what is underneath ukraine that he really is after? i don't see any point in him making a war. he just wants the resources to have more power over the rest of the world. if it is lithium or something like that, it is going to be a huge event for him. host: all right. lee calling from holland, michigan on the democrat line. good morning. caller: here we are again talking about russia-ukraine for, what, two weeks now? this is a little bit out of control. even zelensky, the ukrainian president, said, hey, the american media, how about you back off a little bit? oh yes, this is what the

democrats do. here we are going to another country, hey, we have a border crisis on our own border but no, let's talk about ukraine. your topics are all democrat driven. they tell us what topics to do every day. what do you think about russia-ukraine? hey, russia-ukraine. nobody cares. the thing about republicans and trump is the policies work. democrats have the propaganda. host: didn't you dial in on the democrat line? caller: i did. host: paul calling from

meridian, connecticut on the democrat line. good morning. caller: good morning, jesse. i have a different take on this entire issue. first of all, i don't believe putin is planning on invading the ukraine. i think he is doing everything he can to make it look like he is going to invade ukraine and i think his purpose is several full. one, it creates disunity in the united states. two, to weaken any investment going into the ukraine. and create disharmony within nato. i don't believe there is going to be an invasion but i think we should have a firmer response and the response should be, relative to his aggressive action, with nato allies, begin to reinforce our borders with ukraine in both poland and romania.

i think that sends a clear message you will understand and it will not happen overnight but slowly but surely we can withdraw and he will withdraw. i don't believe an invasion is going to happen. i don't believe that is his intention. he is playing the long game of disruption. host: reuters just sent out a new story that may bring light to what is going on in ukraine. russia says it was doing military drills with belarus and those drills would end today and it would remove its troops from the ukraine border. well, reuters has a flash that says, russia and belarus are extending military drills due to end on sunday. the belarus defense minister said, in a step that further intensifies pressures on ukraine as western leaders warn of imminent invasion. that comes out of reuters.

the so-called russia-belarus military exercise that was supposed to end today february 20 the belarus defense minister now says those military drills will be extended. which means the russian troops that were supposed to leave starting today will continue to stay near ukraine. let's go back to our phone lines and start talking to jim calling from claremore, oklahoma on the republican line. caller: morning. this whole thing is smoke and mirrors being pushed by the democrats in the democrat media. the real threat is the democrat party under biden. our southern border is an invasion we should be worried about hurting our economy. china, we should not accept a single product from china after

they did that with the pandemic they supposedly caused. abuse from the white house of american freedoms with the vaccine mandates. that is the invasion to every american we should be worried about not overseas that we should not even be involved in. afghanistan, the way biden left millions of dollars in military equipment and abandoned our allies, that is the invasion we should be worried about. host: let's talk to adrian calling from olstead falls, ohio on the democrat line. caller: thank you for welcoming all these views. i have to say, we need to focus on the ukrainian people. my coworker is sending funds back to his family while their

prices are rising on good. just horrible feelings about pressure. putin's strategy reflects, i think, a similar concept of the trump administration. walls and borders and boundaries we place on nationalism leads to violence. it just hurts people. host: yesterday, british prime minister boris johnson spoke at the munich security conference and he discussed the need for western europe to stand together and reduce energy and financial dependence on russia. here is what the british prime minister had to say. [video clip] pm. johnson: britain will always stand up for freedom and democracy around the world. and when i say our commitment to european securities is immovable and unconditional, our deeds

show that we mean our words. we are making the biggest contribution of nato -- to nato of any european ally because we understand the importance of collective security, and just as our european friends stood by us after the russian state used chemical weapons in salisbury, so britain will stand by you. but we must accept that these measures by the u.k. and our allies, dirty money, for our ukrainian friends, they may not be enough to deter russian aggression. and it is vital that we learn the lessons of 2014. whatever happens in the next few days and weeks we cannot allow european countries to be blackmailed by russia. we cannot allow the threat of

russian aggression to change the security architecture of europe. we cannot permit a new division of our continent into spheres of influence and we must wean ourselves off dependence of putin's oil and gas. i understand the cost and complexities of this effort and the fact it is easier said than done. i am grateful to chancellor schultz's assurances about nord stream 2. but the lessons of the last few years and of gascom's manipulation of european gas supply cannot be ignored. we must ensure that by making full use of alternative supplies and technology we make russia's threats redundant. that will be the work of the months and years to come as well as the necessary and overdue steps we in the u.k. must do to

protect our own financial system. host: let's see what some of our social media followers are saying about the russia-ukraine border crisis. here is one tweet that says, putin made a big mistake. he thought u.s., nato would hem and haw but they are unified. the ukrainian defense will make russia look like child's play. another tweet that says, russian needs the naval points and cannot allow u.s. troops and weapons on ukrainian soil. america would not allow russia to set up a base in canada or mexico. another tweet that says, if we made a deal to support ukraine if they gave up their nuclear weapons, we should keep honoring it. nato is a support capacity and that is where it should stay. post from facebook that says, i feel for the ukrainian people. such a beautiful people and wonderful country.

they have already endured so much and then this, a travesty. the u.s. and europe need to stop putin's expansion into europe, now. one last facebook post, in 1994 ukraine gave up their nuclear weapons stockpile which was ranked number three in the world. they did so with the guarantee of the world their borders would be respected. do we go back on our agreement? we want to know what you're thinking about the russia-ukraine border crisis and what you think the should do next. judy calling from elberton, georgia on the independent line. caller: with the olympics ending today i would assume he would invade in the next couple of days. we should be giving him severe sanctions. i also have a concern about the international space station. what danger is there and him

taking the international space station? i wish you would have a guest some that could discuss that. host: ryan calling from michigan on the democrat line. good morning. caller: yes, sir. i was curious as to why the president decided to pull our diplomats out of the embassy. as you know, when we have diplomats there it is considered american soil. nato does not have the right to really defend anything. host: i do not think having diplomats in the embassy is the only thing that makes it american soil. i think the embassy itself is american soil whether there are diplomats in there or not. caller: i hope you are right but it seems like the rhetoric -- all this aggression changed after the rhetoric.

i have a democratic voter but it seems like they are opening the door for them to invade. host: frank calling from silver creek, georgia on the republican line. good morning. caller: good morning. wow, i don't know. i don't think anyone wants a war in europe. i think a lot of this is frenzy being whipped up by the fake news media. if trump had been president, we would be at war right now. no. he would have said germany, france, great britain, it is time to tow the line and we would not be taking the first hit. if you ever get a chance to watch "the last czars," it talks about the bolshevik revolution and war after war after war. we keep getting into wars, inflation keeps going up.

in germany right now you can get a 30 year mortgage for less than 1%. yeah. why are we spending our money to protect people that will not protect themselves? host: let's go to richard calling from palmetto, florida on the democrat line. good morning. caller: good morning. thank you for taking my call. i cannot believe how many brainwashed cult members call in with propaganda russian ideas. putin is a thug. couldn't needs to be dealt with -- putin needs to be dealt with. to allow him to just walk in and take over ukraine would be a huge mistake economically add for the people of europe. thank you. host: joe: from charleston, south carolina on the independent line.

good morning. caller: good morning. thank you for giving me the opportunity to speak. i think it is important for anyone listening what success russia sees with ukraine is going to be imitated with china and taiwan. that is all i wanted to say. host: louise calling from fredericksburg, virginia on the republican line. caller: good morning. i wanted to comment on how so many people ignore what president zelensky is saying. he says he wants to talk to putin. they need to meet. he is saying he is not afraid. he is saying all the things opposite to what president biden is saying. i am wondering, why are all the fops running the world?

boris johnson was a disgrace. mr. trudeau up north is a disgrace. they dress nice and talk and they are fops. they are not people. these people are so self absorbed into their own selves -- and i'm talking about mr. biden also. he is a fop. we have fops running the world. host: yesterday vice president kamala harris was speaking at the munich security conference and she discussed russia's response to the ongoing diplomatic effort and warned of the consequences russia will face if they actually invade ukraine. here is what vice president kamala had to say. [video clip] vp. harris: as president joe biden has made clear, the united states, our nato allies, and our partners have been and remain

open to serious diplomacy. we have put concrete proposals on the table. we have encouraged and engaged russia through nato. the united nations and bilateral dialogues. we have engaged in good faith. russia continues to claim it is ready for talks while at the same time it narrows the avenues for diplomacy. their actions simply do not match their words. and let me be clear, i can say with absolute certainty if russia further invade ukraine, the united states together with our allies and partners will

impose significant and unprecedented economic costs. [applause] we have worked intensely with many of you in this room to ensure we are prepared to move forward with consequences. we have prepared together economic measures that will be swift, severe, and united. we will impose far-reaching financial sanctions and export controls. we will target russia's financial institutions and key industries. and we will target those who are complicit and those who aid and

abet this unprovoked invasion. make no mistake, the impositions of these sweeping and coordinated measures will inflict great damage on those who must be held accountable. and we will not stop with economic measures. we will further reinforce our nato allies on the eastern flank. host: let's see what some of our social media followers are saying about the russia-ukraine border crisis. here is one tweet that says, ukraine cannot fight russia. they will just die for nothing. another tweet that says, why doesn't nato take a vote as to if they want ukraine to join them? they will vote no and russia will not invade ukraine. problem solved. a facebook post that says, if putin wants war, give it to him.

he is already a threat to world peace. ukraine is a sovereign country and has every right to her diplomatic relations. another facebook post that says, if we made a deal to support ukraine, if they gave up nuclear weapons, we should keep honoring it. nato is a support capacity and that is where it should stay. one less facebook post that says, thus far everything the administration has done has been pretty much a disaster. with his track record i would stay out of it. we want to know what you think about the russia-ukraine border crisis. let's go to david calling from ohio on the independent line. good morning. caller: good morning and thank you for taking my call. first of all let me say i hope there is a peaceful, democratic resolution to the conflict. but the way -- i have been studying history on my own --

american foreign policy is not driven by protecting democracy, it is driven by wall street investment. you look at the war in iraq, the war in vietnam. the war in iraq especially. we were after the oil, let's not kid ourselves. i am a main street, working-class patriot not a wall street patriot. wall street drives american investment. it is not democracy. if we cared about democracy, we would not supporting the saudi arabian prince that murdered that individual at the turkish embassy. both parties are run by the oligarchy and there is not just an oligarchy in the united states but in russia. there is an oligarchy in countries all around the world. for england to lecture about

invading another country, england had colonial india for hundreds of years and they sent the sun never sets on the british empire. what kind of self-determination to the english promote? it as a joke. you have to see the economic side of all of this but i think there was some kind of deal made where russia was promised nato would not expand in an eastward direction but nato has been expanding toward russia. i think russia has some legitimate concerns. they have ethnic russians inside ukraine in the eastern part of the ukraine. i am not saying russia does not have some serious problems with the way it conducts its business because they have an oligarchy, too. i just hope americans do not jump in and be hypocrites in

areas where hopefully we can find a diplomatic solution. host: let's go to judalone. caller: i agree with the last caller from ohio and the lady from south carolina. i am not sure if she was calling the politicians fops or bots. i am going to call them ghetto daggers. but these presidents, heads of states, people running these countries, governments all across the world, they are incredibly dysfunctional. they don't need to be in power. the people want peace. life is a gift. we want to live life

beautifully. we are in 2022. there is so much technology, so much wealth, so many resources. when they told us there were too many people and not enough resources we have now moved to a disposable economy. host: lee calling from seattle, washington on the independent line. good morning. caller: good morning a thank you to c-span. there has been many comments i agree with. i will keep it brief because i am super nervous. i think it is so important our leaders come to peaceful agreements at this time when they are comparing this to possibly what could be -- i don't want to say the words -- but since world war ii this would be the next biggest possible world effect. i really think it has to do with

the global energy flow. the disruption of that i think it leads to the ultimate power struggle over the nuclear weapons. the supply that ukraine has. iran is having nuclear talks. all these middle eastern countries, especially saudi arabia, basically vying for the world's oil supply, mainly to europe, to intervene russia's supply. i could go on but i am rambling because i'm so nervous. that is my main point. i am hoping for peaceful results because the irony is after we just got done fighting a war saving lives we are going to be possibly killing uncountable numbers of people. host: maria calling from fort

lauderdale, florida on through republican line. good morning. caller: my concern is about ignoring the history. i want to remind every single one of us the first four wars started in eastern europe. the second war started in eastern europe and now we have a third world war in eastern europe. i want us to remember we also had crisis here in the 1960's. we did not want missiles close to our country, close to our land. we wanted to defend our borders and i am saying yes, russia is it said about that. they don't want missiles next to their border and what should i say? i think what -- what does nato

do? what is their mission here? what is their mission? not peace, not prosperity. i just feel we are not seeing what is happening and i say, lord, god almighty, help us. host: joel calling from san marco's, texas on the democratic line. caller: listener, first time caller. i love your show. probably my fair political show. i agree with the previous caller about parroting russian propaganda. i wanted to remind people of nato's history and in all the

history since nato existed the treaty has only been invoked a single time and that was after 9/11 when all of these countries came to our aid to fight terrorism. when i hear people say, what are you doing with nato? why should we help them? it confuses me. i don't know. i also want to say hearing some of these things of, we should take care of our own border. but then i look at the pictures and these are women and children and not tanks and missiles and bombs. it is not fair to compare those things. host: carol calling from georgia on the republican line. good morning. caller: i am calling in about putin and biden. putin is making money off the oil. i cannot imagine nobody cutting

out all the oil and giving it to russia and then going to do something about it. he ain't going to do nothing. i don't know if united states can go three more years of him in office. he is going to put the united states under. host: steve calling from vienna, west virginia on the independent line. good morning. caller: good morning. the last president, only half of the audience clapped. how are you going to help nobody? let's turn this around. let's say florida wanted to leave the united states. why should we come over and help them? it is the same thing.

china is going to overcome the united states military. [indiscernible] the united states goes around starting wars. thank you very much. host: ziggy calling from brooklyn, new york on the democrat line. caller: good morning. i am calling in reference to some history. could you get somebody that knows european history and ukrainian history? host: hang around because later on we will have someone from the german marshall fund who will be here that will talk about what is going on between russia and ukraine grade we would like to thank all of our callers for

that first segment. coming up next, republican strategist brendan buck and democratic strategist rebecca piercy will join us to talk about the week in politics. later, liana fix from the german marshall fund joins us to talk again about the deepening crisis between russia and ukraine. stick with us. we will be right back. ♪ ♪ >> will find warren harding at or near the bottom. tonight, and honor president's day, a historian says that while harding had his faults, his accomplishments are often overlooked, including bringing back to normalcy after world war i. in his book, he lays out his case for why president harding

should rank higher. >> he has finished last in more surveys and rankings and any other president. he and james buchanan arnett connect. what's been said about him is in the realm of myth. there are a lot of myths about harding. when you look at this true record and what he accomplished as the president, it's actually quite impressive. >> tonight at 8:00 eastern on q&a. you can listen to q&a mlr podcast on every c-span now app. >> weekends bring new book tv, featuring leading authors discussing their latest nonfiction books. the 64 days following the 2020 presidential election.

the attempt to overturn the 2020 election and the people who stopped it. afterwards, the book the dumbest generation grows up, from stupefied used to dangerous adults. he argues that millennials lack of general knowledge poses a threat to the political institutions. watch book tv and find a full schedule on your program guide. >> i can report to the nation, america is on the move again. >> live, the state of the union. president biden addresses joint station -- session of congress and laying out his agenda.

we will take your phone calls and social media reaction. >> next, remarks from the ukrainian president at the 58th annual security conference.