>> nawaz: for more on all of this we turn to celeste wallander.e obama administration she served as the special assistant to the president and senior director for russia and eurasia on the national security council staff, and as deputy assistant secretary of defense for russia, ukraine and eurasia. celeste wallander, welcome to the "newshour". let me start by asking you about president putin. he has jailed a popular political opponent, rounded up protest across the country, amassed troops on the ukrainian border. what does this sell us now about his hold on power? >> i think that the message from moscow and from president putin is that the leadership is feeling quite insecure at home and abroad, and president putin in his speech today tried to draw a connection between the two things. from what we see inside russia, protests, the activities and effectiveness of the alexei navalny opposition organization is a domestic, internal movement. but the kremlin doesn't like to see it that way because it doesn't like to entertain the thought that russia --