during the ninety's after the fall of the berlin wall today it was directed to countries the former eastern bloc the same pattern was repeated in afghanistan and iraq during the war on terror. if you have took aboard diplomacy it's a very subtle way of pushing a message of agenda. to another country you know because if you if you've seen even in a muslim it's the training even cheap and since they use food in there if you don't train much on such a dance like a human being you keep rewarding it with a little biscuit or something so. then they tell you jump up american people saying jump up you jump up see what i mean. from very early on africa became the focus of attention as the u.s. and soviet union were trying to gain zones of influence countries like somalia ethiopia and kenya received help. there's a little peace is good as it would be easy to prove to them or the police does that mean that the united states is doing business to be providing you with the same time there's no politics behind the good news. going in there we're trying to do things in a way that is most effective way to save l

during the ninety's after the fall of the berlin wall today it was directed to countries the former eastern bloc the same pattern was repeated in afghanistan and iraq during the war on terror. if you are took aboard diplomacy it's a very subtle way of pushing a message of agenda. to another country you know because if you if you've seen even in the i'm more circus training elephants to their training than chip and since they use food in there if you don't train much upon such a dance like a human being you keep rewarding it with a little biscuit or something so next day and vindictive you jump up american people saying jump up you jump up see what i mean. from very early on africa became the focus of attention as the u.s. and soviet union were trying to gain zones of influence countries like somalia ethiopia and kenya received help. there's a little peace is good as it would be easy to prove to them or the police does that mean that the united states is doing business to actually be providing aid to this ng to the. no politics behind going in there we're trying to do things in a way that most ef

it has been several decades now since russia transformed itself and the eastern bloc transformed itself. some of those suspicions still exist and part of what my goal has been and john kerry's goal has been is to try to break down some of those suspicions and look objectively at the situation. if in fact we can broker a peaceful political transition that leads to assad's departure, but a state in syria that isaccommodates the interesf groups andnic religious groups inside of syria and end the bloodshed and stabilizes the situation, that's not just good for us, that's good for everybody. we will be very persistent in trying to make that happen. i'm not promising it's going to be successful. frankly, once the furies have been unleashed in a situation like we are seeing in syria, it is very hard to put things back together. there are going to be enormous challenges in getting a credible process going, even if russia is involved because we still have countries like iran and nonstate actors like hezbollah that have been actively involved. on the other side, we have organizations that are ess

yugoslavia or even east germany which is the most successful economically successful member of the eastern bloc. going back and looking what people are looking at at the time i have this story where an american ambassador is brought to a place and told that he should have left and he just sees water buffalo and rice paddies in a place they took him to which has the population of new york city and door ipad was made their. there are a lot of great ways to tell the story and people told them at the time. people have forgotten that story so we have the islamist run trying to bring it back to life. >> host: that raises the question with china and i think across the stories that you would get in the book and that is how right or wrong or we at the time? luke as you looked at it at the time and those histories that were written did the understand the historical import of these events at the moment or were we really off the mark? >> guest: i think that we missed a lot of the store yet the time. you know, the big story of 1979 for the americans and the chinese was his visit to the united states at the

it's been several decades now since russia transformed itself and the eastern bloc transformed itself, but, you know, some of those suspicions still exist. and part of what my goal has been, john kerry's goal has been and i know david's goal has been to try to break down some of those suspicions and look objectively at the situation. if in fact we can broker a peaceful political transition that leads to assad's departure but a state in syria that is still in tact that accommodates the interests of all the ethnic groups, all the religious groups inside of syria, and that ends the bloodshed, stabilizes the situation, that's not just going to be good for us, that will be good for everybody. and we're going to be very persistent in trying to make that happen. i'm not promising that it's going to be successful. frankly, sometimes once sort of the fury's been unleashed in a situation like we're seeing in syria, it's very hard to put things back together. and, you know, there is -- there are going to be enormous challenges in getting a credible process going even if russia is involved. becau

it's been several decades now since russia transformed itself and the eastern bloc transformed itself. but you know, some of those suspicions still exist. and part of what my goal has been, john kerry's goal has been and i know david's goal has been, to try to break down some of those suspicions and look objectively at the situation. if in fact we can broker a peaceful political transition, that leads to assad's departure, but a state in syria that is still intact. that accommodates the interests of all the ethnic groups, all the religious groups inside of syria. and that ends the bloodshed, stabilizes the situation, that's not just going to be good for us, that will be good for everybody and we're going to be very persistent in trying to make that happen. i'm not promising that it's going to be successful. frankly, sometimes once the furies have been unleashed in a situation like we're seeing in syria, it's very hard to put things back together. and you know, there is there are going to be enormous challenges in getting a credible process going. even if russia is involved. because we

ewing slav ya or east germany, which seemed like the most economically successful member of the eastern bloc, so that goes to underline how unlikely and surprising these changes were when they happened. and as i tell in the book, a great way to tell this story in china is by going back and looking at what people were looking at, at the time. i have this story where an american investor is brought to a place and told he should invest, and he just sees water buffalo and rice paddies and the place is now a city with the population of new york city and your ipad was made there right? so, i think a lot of great ways to tell the story, and some people told them at the time very, very vividly. there have been some great books right at the time of the changes in china, but nowdays people have forgotten the story. so i had a lot of fun trying to bring it back to life. >> host: that raises a question that applies both to china and i think across the stories you look at in the book, and that is, how right or wrong were we at the time? as you looked back into it and how these things changed and the inst

it has been several decades now since russia transformed itself and the eastern bloc transformed itselfak down those suspicions. if in fact we can broker a peaceful political transition that lead to assad's departure but a state in syria that is still intact, that accommodates the interests of all the ethnic groups, the religious groups inside of syria, and that ends the bloodshed. stabilize the situation. that's not just good for us. that will be good for everybody. we'll be very persistent in trying to make that happen. i'm not promising that it is going to be successful. frankly sometimes once the fe r furies have been unleashed in a place like syria, it is very hard to put things back together. and there are going to be enormous challenges in getting a credible process going even if russia is involved. because we still have other countries like iran and nonstate actors like hezbollah that have been actively involved. and on the other side we have organizations like alnasra. so all that makes a couple bustible mix and it will be challenging. it is worth the effort and what we can tel

it has been several decades now since russia transformed itself and the eastern bloc transformed itselfsome of those suspicions still exist and part of what my goal has been and john kerry's goal has been is to try to break down some of those suspicions and look objectively at the situation. fact we can broker a peaceful political transition that leads to assad's departure, but a state in syria that is , that accommodates the interests of all the ethnic groups and religious groups inside of syria and end the bloodshed and stabilizes the situation, that's not just good for us, that's good for everybody. we will be very persistent in trying to make that happen. i'm not promising it's going to be successful. once the furies have been unleashed in a situation like we are seeing in syria, it is very hard to put things back together. there are going to be enormous challenges in getting a credible process going, even if russia is involved because we still have countries like iran and nonstate actors like hezbollah that have been actively involved. on the other side, we have organizations that