on the "newshour" tonight, we interview russia's ambassador to the united nations, vitaly churkin about syria and about u.s. ambassador susan rice's decision to take her name out of consideration to be secretary of state. >> woodruff: then, we turn to the fiscal crisis here at home. andrew kohut explains the latest poll numbers, showing strong support for the way president obama is handling the negotiations. >> warner: plus, ray suarez gets two views on proposals to raise the age of eligibility for medicare to 67, from 65. >> woodruff: it's bottoms up tonight for miles o'brien who reports on genetic links to alcoholism and other addictions. >> so far as i know, there's no law against reporting under the influence, so here goes something. while i may carry the genes of an irish pub crawler, my chances of becoming an alcoholic are slightly less. >> warner: and we talk with ambassador marc grossman about prospects for afghanistan as the u.s. prepares to withdraw troops by 2014 and as he leaves his post as u.s. special envoy to the region. >> woodruff: that's all ahead on tonight's "newshou

vitaly churkin. he is russia's ambassador to the united nations. thank you for joining us. me begin by asking you about the comment today made by your deputy foreign minister mr. bog don november. he said today "it is impossible to exclude a victory of the syrian opposition." how would you describe the situation in syria? >> well, you know i think he went on saying that the syrian government seems to be losing ground in the fighting with the opposition and i think this is obvious. but i don't think there is anything in that statement which one can welcome or not welcome. first of all, that doesn't mean that the trouble will end any time soon. the fighting may continue for a very long time still and the battle may keep going this way or the other way for a long time because you will recall when the crisis started the predictions were that it will last for two to four months and president assad is going to be toppled but that did not happen. another important thing to remember is that even if the current stage of the crisis were to end in the so-called victory of the oppositi