has been a brutal dictator bashar assad's a murderous regime in syria assad is the worst kind of brutal war criminal a classic super villain both stupid and evil beyond any logic the coined a villain but man would go off and america is batman. if mr assad conducts another mass murder attack using chemical weapons he and his military will pay a heavy price britain is already on board if it does something really dumb for no reason again the u.k. will join the us in punishing him we think it's absolutely right if we can to prevent the use of chemical weapons and we will fully support any u.s. action and if you've been following events in syria recently you'll know they'll hitting the united states has attacked as i said five times and what they say is self defense. problem is justifying the prolonged conflict isn't easy western voters don't want another gung ho i mean campaign they learned their lesson after the first few times the international community sick of reckless interventions the only thing left is to wait for asset to give them a cools and since he's a comic book supervillain th

has been a brutal dictator bashar al assad's a murderous regime in syria assad is the worst kind of brutal war criminal a classic super villain both stupid and evil beyond any logic the kind a villain but man would go off and america is batman. if mr assad conducts another mass murder attack using chemical weapons he and his military will pay a heavy price britain is already on board if it does something really dumb for no reason again the u.k. will join the us in punishing him we think it's absolutely right if we can to prevent the use of chemical weapons and we will fully support any u.s. action and if you've been following events in syria recently you know they'll hitting the united states has attacked as i said five times and what they say is self defense. problem is justifying the prolonged conflict isn't easy western voters don't want another gung ho i mean campaign they learned their lesson after the first few times the international community sick of reckless interventions the only thing left is to wait for asset to give them a cools and since he's a comic book supervillain

had some success in terms of sharing - shoring up assad. was looking his grip day by day then the russians would not be brokering this. at the end of the day, as long as we are pragmatic about this it is fine. if we hold outcome if we basically say we are not going to do anything until we can figure out how to get assad out of there, frankly it is not going to happen. in the nearby midterm. the russians will not allowed to have in common that iranians will not allow that to happen. and we have less leverage, less ability on the ground there to change the facts than the iranians and russians. >> basically you're saying that moscow is getting rewarded." the end result of that will be assad. >> love, how interest? what are our interests? the us, we are trying to defeat isis. and we are trying to end this humanitarian crisis. those are our objectives. so in the short sense, de-escalation is a good thing. because it helps to alleviate the suffering and we can continue because isis is not part of the de-escalation process. >> terrorist groups hav

and some of the other atrocities and you're absolutely right the people fighting against assad aren't saints and you don't really want to be backing saints in a civil war you want people who will who will fight but i think that their credentials are much better than the credentials of assad and yet despite those much better credentials the new american president has just terminated that his support for for that rebel group you know what always strikes me in the. in american analysis is that americans have all always been making some excuses for themselves they can always find just if occasion for their own policies and justify it from that point of view but they never allow the same for russia or any other adversary and i had to spend that you may not like crush on many grounds but why cannot you give your adversary a fair analytical treatment well i don't have any hostility toward russia i think it's a great country i mean you walk into the kremlin the red square you see that it's a great country with great history like many russian people but i think if you compare russian and ameri

iran has been so powerful in terms of giving assad the backing that he needed that taking out assad is very unlikely right now and the other is a look around at what comes afterwards and i think in understanding that now we have to broker what comes afterwards now rather then thinking we can overthrow assad and then figure out who and. it seems to me crazy for us to be in a proxy war with russia and it seems crazy for me to mean for us to be antagonizing iran at a time you know their major regional player. or in my off on no you're absolutely right and unfortunately with the moment that we're in terms of the tremendous antagonism that the press and the democratic party have against russian interference in u.s. elections or involvement with the trump administration the working with the russians is not seen by many as a positive thing but it has to be done and there are cease fire agreements that have work been worked out between the u.s. russia and jordan that is actually working right now in one small sliver of syria that's supposed to be extended to three other areas so i think that i

those people have been in it involved in brutal atrocities and i'm not trying to say here that the assad regime is an example a regime nobody is saying that but the main goal of the russian policy in syria was the preservation of the syrian state and i suspect that this is something that even mr trump now agrees with well i think the preservation of the syrian state has passed a couple of years ago it's been a brutal civil war the country's falling apart and so i think the goal needs to be to rebuild it with a government that can represent all the various interest groups and you know i don't think anyone in the united states is naive i don't think it's going to be switzerland it's not going to be that kind of democracy but you would want a government that is represented and legitimate and i think assad's lost all legitimacy at this point so again gassing his own people and some of the other atrocities and you're absolutely right those are the people fighting against assad aren't saints and you don't really want to be backing saints in a civil war you want people who will who will fight b

but shah al assad has. one really bad habit and that habit is and you need does this when he's winning he ruins everything by doing something really stupid for no reason at all. take acids army now they're crushing slavek state liberating vast swaths of syria and out of the blue comes this the united states has identified potential preparations for another chemical weapons attack by the saddam regime i said knows the probable cause and sequences of a chemical attack it's the only thing really right now that could ruin him by giving his enemies the opportunity of a pretext to attack him why would he do it because he's evil the murderous syrian dictator bashar assad has been a brutal dictator bashar al assad's a murderous regime in syria assad is the worst kind of brutal war criminal a classic super villain booth stupid and evil beyond any logic the kind of villain batman would go after and america is not mine. if mr assad conducts another mass murder attack using chemical weapons he and his military will pay

the international community is not going to accept a syria led by the assad regime. and so, if syria is to be accepted and have a secure economic future, it really requires that they find new leadership. we think that it will be difficult for them to attract both the humanitarian aid as well as the reconstruction assistance going to be required because there just will be a low level of confidence in the assad government. so that continues to be the view, and as we said, how assad leaves is yet to be determined, but our view is that somewhere in that process there will be a transition away from the assad family. >> thank you. on north korea, did president putin agree to do anything to put more pressure on north korea? and, secondly, you seemed to have reached somewhat of an impasse with china in terms of getting them to put more pressure on north korea. how are you going to get them to go beyond that already, and what will president trump say to president xi on that tomorrow? secretary tillerson: we will continue those discussions and ask them to do more. russia does

anymore that's a recognition that assad is strong with the support of russia and iran and that. the real politic is that we have to broker an end to the conflict with assad and that is something that the trumpets and ministration has recognized as well was that was there an element of ok we took out. you know we took. in libya we took out gadhafi in iraq we took out saddam hussein that you know didn't really work out well doing that and so this is a change in policy from the obama policy in the early trump policy. recognition one that the policy isn't working that since. the intervention of russia and iran has been so powerful in terms of giving assad the backing that he needed that taking out assad is very unlikely right now and the other is a look around at what comes afterwards and i think in understanding that now we have to broker what comes afterwards now rather then thinking we can overthrow assad and then figure out who i want to be apropos of that it seems to me crazy for us to be in a proxy war with russia and it seems crazy for me to mean for us to be antagonizing ira

the international community is not going to accept a syria led by the assad regime. and so, if syria is to be accepted and have a secure economic future, it really requires that they find new leadership. we think that it will be difficult for them to attract both the humanitarian aid as well as the reconstruction assistance going to be required because there just will be a low level of confidence in the assad government. so that continues to be the view, and as we said, how assad leaves is yet to be determined, but our view is that somewhere in that process there will be a transition away from the assad family. >> thank you. on north korea, did president putin agree to do anything to put more pressure on north korea? and, secondly, you seemed to have reached somewhat of an impasse with china in terms of getting them to put more pressure on north korea. how are you going to get them to go beyond that already, and what will president trump say to president xi on that tomorrow? secretary tillerson: we will continue those discussions and ask them to do more. russia does

question: what about bashar al-assad in syria? pres. trump: assad? question: assad. pres. trump: i'm not a fan of assad, okay? he will tell you that, because we hit 58 out of 58, or, you could even say, 59 out of 59, when we launched the tomahawk missiles. no, i am not a fan of assad. i certainly think that what he's done to that country and to humanity is horrible. so, i have been saying that for a long time. i am not somebody that will stand by and let him get away with what he tried to do. and he did it a number of times -- when president obama drew the red line in the sand. and then he should have crossed that red line, because some horrible acts against humanity took place, including gas and the killing through gases. that was a bad day for this country. and i'd go a step further that, had president obama gone across that line and done what he should have done, i don't believe you'd have russia and i don't believe you'd have iran to anywhere near the extent, and maybe not at all, in syria today. ok? thank you very much. question: [no translation provided] pm hariri: [

the future of syria, the future of president assad, this is a tricky question. you've got many different aspects. we are in contact. we make no secrets of that. but, first of all, i would say our american colleagues are safe driving their activity. they have done more work with them. we have our servicemen who are in control of monetary regime. the cease-fire arraignments are in place. as far as the other region, the concerns, i really don't know. they are really carrying out things everyone is interested in. but we don't think they are preparing for some kind of combat. we believe a preliminary work on creating the de-escalation areas, will be materialize. it can't be done without the help of turkey. >> amongst the president trump said, he said that the u.s. would be interested in exporting gas to europe. how do you assess that? >> i see that is a very positive. it would help competition. it will benefit everybody. we are for an open competitive market. the president said he was for open and honest competition. and, i fully support it. certainly, it suits us. i

secretary tillerson: we see no long-term role for assad for his -- or his family. we have a clear with our discussions with russia that we do not syria -- think syria can achieve international recognition in the future, even if they work through a successful political process. the international community is not going to accept a serious led by the assad regime. so if syria is to be accepted both secureecure, and economic future, it really requires they find new leadership. we think it will be difficult for them to attract both the humanitarian aid as well as the reconstruction assistance going to be required because there just will be a low level of confidence in the assad government. so that continues to be the view, and as we said, how ssad leaves is yet to be determined, but hardly is somewhere in that process there will be a transition away from the assad family. >> thank you. korea, did president putin agreed to do anything to put more pressure on north korea, and an impasse with china in terms of getting them to put more pressure on north korea. how are you g

trump ends a covert operation arming rebel fighters, a move that eases pressure on both presidents assad and putin. plus, making sense of fears over the rise of artificial intelligence, and how to curb the future power of computers. >> how could you then ensure that you could control what those machines do? that they were beneficial? that they were aligned with human intentions? >> woodruff: all that and more on tonight's pbs newshour. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: >> and by the alfred p. sloan foundation. supporting science, technology, and improved economic performance and financial literacy in the 21st century. >> carnegie corporation of new york. supporting innovations in education, democratic engagement, and the advancement of international peace and security. at carnegie.org. >> and with the ongoing support of these institutions: and individuals. >> this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. >> woodruff: president trump sounding off again. this ti

be terrified by iran or assad. think american should act in the interest of their own country, the number one job they have. >> you couldn't answer me on putin so you seemed might change the subject. i want to know why you think vladimir putin is okay. >> tucker: i don't think he's okay, i think it's great that he's fighting isis. >> you want a alliance with russia. >> tucker: bombs against isis, unfortunately we are out of time. thank you for joining us, a spirited conversation. president trump has been in office six months, the russia story not going away. up next we will talk to scott adams to see if the story is actually helping trump. day 13. if only this were as easy as saving $600 when you switch to progressive. winds stirring. too treacherous for a selfie. [ camera shutter clicks ] sure, i've taken discounts to new heights with safe driver and paperless billing. but the prize at the top is worth every last breath. here we go. [ grunts ] got 'em. ahh. wait a minute. whole wheat waffles? [ crying ] why! wait

-- appear to at least be a big win for both russia's vladimir putin and syria president bashar al assad

is after, you know, assad not to gassing his people, can those two objectives coexist?well, it is always very difficult to see us get to that point, what we see going on, fortunately being reduced, it is somewhat of a war therefore countries like russia, who have been profiting off of the assad regime, longer-term stable solution, and even if we make progress on the ground in syria against isis, with cooperation from the russians, there is still a general fights against isis globally that needs to take place online and fighting their ideology overseas, and that is really sort of the main concern, at least from a homeland security concern, homegrown terrorism, which will continue regardless of what happens on the ground. i think you are right, this is a positive first step, a cease-fire is always a positive first step, but there is still a long way had, and a humanitarian crisis on the ground there, in terms of people being killed. >> melissa: the more complicated it gets, even if assad were taken out of the equation, which is obviously a huge shift, you see russia comin

is putin's guy, assad in power, you run ice osit and hand a gift to assad. the agenda. noagenda. whatever the president wants to talk about. all say democrats and republicans, say he damn well better raise election meddling. the white house said, we don't know if it will come up or not. can the president of the united states after. whatted in the 2 whatted -- what happened in the 2016 election, not bring this up? >> given the president, the answer is, yes, something in trump's wheelhouse to not -- >> there are smiles at the table, but that's not funny. if thinking about the united states brand in the rearview mirror or 20 years ahead, 2018, 2020 re-election campaign for this president it would be stunning, except nobody would be surprised by it. >> while we're smiling. the answer to your question, of course, it wouldn't be surprising if he doesn't do that, because this president does not adhere to longstanding american political norms. we knew that for the year and a half he ran for president and guess what? got the nomination, won the presidency, because hi

syria president bashar al assad to see one of the major players pull out of that fight. >> that's right, if the reports, as you said, from the washington post are correct, it will certainly tip the favors even further in favor of putin, assad, and the iranians who shared militias have been fighting the rebels on the ground there. as you mention, the cia began the covert operation in 2013 and trained some 10,000 fighters, but a u.s. intelligence official tells nbc news that the program wasn't particularly successful because numbers of fighters it diminished over the years and many of the arms supplied by america ended up in the hands of al qaeda and its affiliates. the rebels made some limited gains in 2015, but that's when russia got involved and started pounding them with air strikes. now, even though the program wasn't really effective, some u.s. officials both past and present see it as a concession to russia and where america will lose even more leverage in a region where their influence is already limited.

yes, our position continues to be that we see no long-term role for the assad family or the assad regime. we just -- and we have made this clear to everyone. we've certainly made it clear in our discussions with russia, that we do not think syria can achieve international recognition in the future, even if they work through a successful political process. the international community simply is not going to accept a syria led by the assad regime. and so if syria's to be accepted and have a secure, both secure and economic future, it really requires that they find new leadership. we think it will be difficult for them to attract both the humanitarian aid as well as the reconstruction assistance that's going to be required because there just will be such a low level of confidence in the assad government. so, that continues to be the view. and as we said, how assad leaves is yet to be determined. but our view is that somewhere in that political process, there will be a transition away from the assad family. >> on north korea, did president putin agree to do anything to help the u.s. to put mo

or protrude to step down. —— or assad.ies making the news. at least 15 people are thought to have died on the southern japanese island of kyushu following heavy rains and flooding. rivers burst their banks in several places, sweeping away roads and houses, and destroying schools. thousands of rescuers have been struggling through mud and rain to search for missing and stranded people, with several 100 believed to still be cut off. israel has strongly condemned unesco for passing a resolution brought by the palestinians to declare the old city of hebron a protected world heritage site. the prime minister, benjamin netanyahu, called the vote a delusional decision. the palestinians had alleged that israel was carrying out violations in hebron, where a small community ofjewish settlers lives in the middle of tens of thousands of palestinians. at least two people have died after a fire broke out in el salvador‘s finance ministry. a number of people were trapped for nearly two hours as the blaze spread through the 8—storey build

assad was allowed to go in and reclaim the city. when you talk to people about a ceasefire, it is met with pestism because it was a krimming attack. who will enforce it? will the russians --? the assad regime is not a signatory to this ceasefire and they become the enforcers of this. what incentive do they have to crack down on their client? >> two small reasons to see a glimmer of hope for the process now. one is, as secretary tillerson said, the united states and its allies are about to take raqqa. who administers this territory? that is a practical problem that they have been addressing. the trump administration has drifted way away from the obama administration assistance that assad has to go. assad can stay for a while. that said, i think my colleagues are right. secretary tillerson sounded like john kerry when he said, gee our objectives look awfully similar. robert: when you step back and think about this exchange between putin and trump, is this a re-imagination. is this something that the u.s. is going in a different direct