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news. >> providing answers that families need. seaman's answers. issue one, putin's state of the union. >> it was a referendum and it was -- took place in an open and sincere way and the crimmaens want to be with united states. >> we have been united with these ideas and in support of the ukrainian people. >> we have rejected the legitimacy of the crimmaen referendum. >> russian president vladimir putin and president obama engaged in a barrage of claims and counterclaims this week.

at issue, not only the sovereignty of ukraine and the disputed referendum on crimea but also rifling interpretations of the two decades since the 1991 collapse of the soviet union. mr.putin accused the united states and its allies of violates international law. "like a mirror the situation in ukraine reflects what is going on and what is happening in the world over the past several decades. after the dissolution of bi polarity, we no longer had continuity. sadly degrading. our western partners lets by the united states of america refer not to be guided by international law in their

practical policiles but by the rule of the gun. they have comfortably tried to decide the destinies of the world, that only they can be right. they act as they please, here and there and use force against sovereign states building coalitions based on the principle if you are not with us, you are against us. as cases in point, putin offered the 1991, dasa war and the invasion of iraq and afghanistan where the united states searched for weapons of mass destruction and lipya against moda gadhafi. president obama says president putin does not play by 21st

century rules and putin says that obama does not abide by the rules either. who is right and who is wrong? pat buchanan. >> i think president putin and an effective speech, up to 80% approval say you condemn us for holding a referendum in crimea and reclaiming crimea with a single casualty and one death when you americans basically bombed serya for 78 days to rip away the an province of cost aco. the soviet union took the army out of eastern europe and dissolved the pact and we moved nato to central and eastern europe to the former soviet republics and tried toably in ukraine and georgia, he is saying get out of our face and space and that's why the whole

kremlin got up and cheered and applaud and wept. >> he is at 85% approval because he shut down any voices of opposition in the media. they call themselves a democracy but it is not. it is a rubber stamp legislature. if that is the kind of country you aspire to, pat, we can set rules at the top and have no opposition. this is a selective reading of history but i am not unsympathetic. with nato after the collapse of the soviet union we pushed into countries he regarded within his area of province and perhaps we did overly provoke him but the notion that the u.s. is trying to encroach upon him and that this is a recreation of the cold war, what he is yearning for, he uses the word bipolarity when there were two super powers when he was the big man on

campus. that's what he wants to be the center of attraction. i think the president -- president obama when he calls russia a regional power, he demeans him. i think it is a great country. they are not what they once were but they should be taken seriously. >> why did he do that? >> because they are a regional power but that's not something he should necessarily have said out loud. >> putin also, eleanor is on a unique moment in time when the landscape of world leaders that use the strategy of land in the united states to win popularity in their home countries have shrunk. hugo chavez is out of the picture and ahmadinejad's career is over and kim john's career and fidel-castro. right now the opportunity to

seize this post cold war and post bipolar rhetorical stage in politics, putin is doing that. regardless of his popularity, he is not criticizing president obama, this speech clearly went after george w. bush and bill clinton, he was slamming the united states in a way that was just basically over the top. >> it is decades of grievances basically. >> can you hold for a minute? i want to get this in and i will go to you and give you a double length of time, that agreeable? >> yes. >> okay. putin elaborates, ukraine declared independence 23 years ago in 1991. this severed ukraine and crimea from russia. president putin called that severance an outrageous

injustice. russia was not simply robbed, it was plundered. the current government in ukraine resorted to terror, murder and riots. nationalists and knee owe nazis and anti sem mite, executed the ceax and depriving ethnic russians of their memory and freedom to use their own language. by the way 92 percent of russias approve the annexation of russia from crimea. does president vladimir putin have a legitimate gripe? >> he does. ukraine and crimea were not democracies and a lot of people

exploited in ukraine where there is a group ripping off the country in every way and just stealing everything that it possibly can at the expense of the average folks in that country. so there is a great deal of resentment that in defense, putin can capitalize on and that is part of what is going on right now. >> it is not -- putin did in his introduction there, he said look, there were legitimate protests against corrupt and inefficient regimes and these people on the streets have a right to do it, however, they say the decisive events were these nazis and he blamed the united states, john, the usa was in it up to its airs and victoria is there saying we spent five billion dollars reorienting ukraine in our direction and name in that famous phone call, she named the future leader, yatz. >> what is the point? >> the point is when putin says the americans are in this up to his ears he is not mistaken.

>> but the u.s. is not up to the ears with the fastists and the kneeo nazis. >> they were all in yemin scare. >> not the elements that the u.s. was pressing, he is exaggerating and creating grievances in crimea and ukraine so that he can go in and protect the russians. >> there is a vote in may and we will see what are the powerful elements in that vote. >> okay. in an interview friday with cbs news, president obama had a message for president putin and his massing of russian groups at the ukrainian border. >> you have seen a range of troops massing along that border under the guise of

military exercises but this is what russia would normally do and it may be an effort to intimidate ukraine or they have additional plans. in either case what we need to resolve and deescalate the situation is for russia to move back those troops and to begin negotiations directly with the ukrainian government as well as the international community. >> president obama seems to have listened to president obama putin's lengthy march 18th pieces of which we have just heard. now, listen to what mr. obama had to say about what he thinks is in the mind set of vladimir putin. >> he said that he considers the breakup of soviet union to be tragic. i think there is a strong sense of russian nationalism and a sense that somehow the west is taking advantage of russia in

the past and that he wants to in some fashion reverse that or make up for that. what i have repeatedly said is that he may be entirely misreading the west. he certainly is misreading american foreign policy. we have no interest in circling russia. we have no interest in ukraine beyond letting the ukrainian people make their own decisions about their own lives. >> question, what do you think of this reasoning of president obama, i ask you? >> look, john, i think it is great that president obama has done this academic break down of trying to read what vladimir putin means but president obama is the leader of the free world. what he is trying to do and it doesn't quite match up with his statements here is to prevent a massive military standoff with the other power, the most powerful nation that has a lot

of nuclear weapons being russia, and i think he hasn't quite been able to articulate that to say get behind my camp here. we sat and watched it as moscow maneuvered the annexation of crimea. we will probably sit and watch if russia which now has about 80,000 troops massed on the ukrainian border if they go to eastern ukraine but at the end of the day we want the russians to sit down and talk with us about how this doesn't widen into something much more dangerous. >> the real danger is right now look the ukrainians and kiev are cutting off the electricity and russia does not have land bridge to crimea. if the ukrainians start squeezing the crimeians until they are in pain, there is a possibility that russia army could move in to eastern ukraine. >> the russians will have

enough trouble supporting crimea. will they take on ukraine too, a basketball case getting loo guarantees and financial help from the iaf and the uf? it doesn't make sense from a financial stand point. let's not forget that an american astronaut and two russian astronauts went into space today together. the russians are being helpful in a number of other areas so he is not going to act completely against it. >> and there is a new military arm in afghanistan that we trained that is part of it and we don't want to stop that. sorry, good. >> let's not underestimate putin, this is an absolute unique political leader in russia's history. >> you met him. >> several times about and first when he became head of the kgb and i will tell you he was very young in his 40s and when he came in the room and i was at the end of the room.

>> he is a lawyer too. >> and he is athletic and youthful and there is something about him that you just say to yourself that i'm not going to mess with that guy if i can avoid it. he is one very, very tough guy and very smart and very determined. he is now really going after ukraine like it or not. there are a lot of russian speaking people. if you read the speech that pat was referring to, there is a major crisis in ukraine before the next couple years are over. >> he has a lot of gripes. >> yes. >> legitimate gripes. >> i think the speech will be read by everybody. here is how to read it dated march 18th on the web. and if it interests you go to read it prague post dot com and certainly for the full text at the speech at the prague post web site and copy down the address that you see as i'm

speaking to you on the screen. given the outcome of the crimeian crisis, is the world at greater risk or territorial dispute. pat. >> there's an increase risk that putin could move into eastern ukraine. i'm not sure that he wants to do that because that could result in severe sanctions. >> adorn think he -- i don't think he want to do it and the u.s. wants to come down with sanctions. it could turn in a danger. >> there is a greater risk of territorial disputes and it started when the united states invaded iraq and that's what vladimir putin used and it is the fly in the ointment and the

u.s. logic. >> he does anything in ukraine not with russian forces and uniforms, he will find some way to have a local community dressed in nonmilitary garb and they will make pressure on the existing government which is so corrupt, they have no support so you have to watch the interior politics in which they are expert. you saw how carefully he moved to crimea. if he does anything in the ukraine it will be equally thought out and planned. >> there is a new government in there and there are elections in may. he will let it run out. >> issue two, church and state, president obama met with pope francis at the vatican this week in what the white house billed as a discussion about income and equality. last year pope francis made waves when he issued his evangelical discussion to the

clergy that says mr. obama's focus on income and equality. some people continue to defend and trickle down theories which assume that economic growth and encouraged by a free market will never succeed in bringing about greater injustice and inclusiveness. this opinion which has never been confirmed by the facts expresses a true and naive trust in the wielding economic power and the workings of the prevailing economic system. while the earnings of the minority are growing exponentially. so too is the gap separating the majority from the prosperity and enjoyed by those happy few, unquote. pope francis is a spiritual leader of 75 million catholics. according to a new wall street journal pop, 55% of americans

have a favorable view of pope francis. among catholics, 60% say pope francis has strengthened their faith and commitment to the catholic church. mr.obama may be hoping that some of that popularity rubs off on him. with only six months to go before november's midterm election, the latest ap poll shows mr. obama's disapproval rating has reached an all-time high of 59%. his approval rating remains at 41%. among the core constituencies whose faith in obama is slipping notably hispanic many are catholic. >> question, will the meeting between the pope and the president have any bearing on this year's u.s. november elections, six months from now? eleanor. >> it helps when the pope is on your side when you are talking about income and quality and about immigration. i think the pope is firmly on that side so i think the

president can invoke his views and i think the pope is a good person to speak out and highlight the issues that the democrats would like to see focused on in this upcoming election. >> the pope basically is a democrat as we can see from the statements he has made and it doesn't surprise me that he and barack obama ... they have issues on homosexuality and birth control and abortion that they won't see eye to eye but as we have seen with the pope, he has had a willingness in certain situations to put those issues on the side and focus on world -- >> poverty and they disagree on gay marriage and what else. >> abortion. but i will tell you the president dodged a bullet because the pope reportedly did not do what a lot of american

cardinals and bishops wanted him done for him to stand up under obama care to provide abortive rules to employees. >> mark. >> we are in an interesting situation here with the pope that lives an extraordinarily engaging and poplar man, he has an ability in that mysterious way to connect with millions all over the world including the united states. so whatever that dialogue is, it is bound to help obama. however the problem is that income and equality is not just a function of the way the pope puts it if i may say so. it is a function of technology and international trade and that won't change. >> hold it. let me get this in. president obama's meeting with pope francis give income and equality added interest in america? >> yes, definitely. >> i hope so.

very modestly. >> blessing on it and issue three, mega move. >> there is a process that is taking place where we have to win back the trust not just of government but more importantly of order citizens, the step we took that was announced today, i think is an example of slowly systemically putting in checks and balances. >> president obama announced changes to the way the national security agency, the nsa collects the phone data of u.s. citizens or does it collect it as the case may be. ten months after the revelation for the former nsa contractor edward snowden dealing with the international collection of storage, called the meta data of phone records, president obama props that data be stored by the big telephone companies. they would keep the data for 18 months and if an intelligence agency like the ns awants it, a special court order would be

needed to get it. mr.snowden by the way continues to live in exile in russia. in the u.s. he is charged with espionage, interesting, there is one form of u.s. president that gave snowden some praise. >> i think what snowden has done has been constructive in the long run, since 9/11 we have gone too far in intrusion on the privacy that americans ought to enjoy as a right of citizenship. >> e-mails and phone calls are not president carter's messaging tools. >> i have felt that my own communications were probably monitored aen when i want to commune tate with a foreign leader privately, i type or writes the letter myself and put it in the post office and mail it. >> he says he does it by mail. this is his latest book.

jimmy carter, a call to action, women, religion and politics. writes with great clarity and interesting angles on all of these issues. i recommend it. we have a question here as a concern of a privacy going to lead to revival of snail mail, pat? >> no, i don't think so. it costs almost 50 cents a stampp. i deal with a lot of snail mail. >> you see where it has taken a serious turn because of the computer. >> they are interested and aware of it and i haven't seen anybody that has been -- has his privacy invaded and destroyed, his reputation and things in all of what is going on and i think the national security agency has got to be checking some of these things out or have the ability to do it and i'm on the other side of the argument. >> key strokes can be lodged and instead of using old- fashioned type writer or pen

and pencil, mail the letter on the flap and tape will leave telltale traces and you will know if the message is compromised. very serious like dianne feinstein concerned about the loss of intelligence and she said we were able to basically intradick several terrorist attacks. if there's a terrorist attack in this country that could be prevented by some information it will shift the country in a different direction. >> predictions pat. >> france as he loses elections and bad may when the european parliaments goes to the polll. >> what is it. >> he will lose his prime minister. >> with more than 6 million people signing up for obama care, the scales are beginning to tip towards success and the republicans might have to rethink the strategy for

winning the full election. >> despite the ukraine crisis having prompted big calls in washington for u.s. energy reform, the obama administration will not approve the keystone pipeline. >> mark. >> the republicans will reduce the debates in the presidential campaign to somewhere in the range of five because he gave a lot of ammunition to the democrats. >> president obama, the eastern ukraine to create a land corridor between russia and crimea. bye-bye. the mcflawn mcmcglaughlin's

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