they are the superpower in eurasia. and it happened once before, it's happening once again and the united states is going to be largely at the margins of that process. tom: we're at the margin of the process. so let's dive into your book and speak china-centric. polo'seturn to marco world trade -- world. what i find fascinating here is an essay in defense of henry kissinger. dr. kissinger is elderly, now still a very important voice in what we're doing. but kissinger under new china as you would see it, what has changed about this new china versus a china that kissinger knew in his heyday? mr. kaplan: the china that henry kissinger knew in his heyday was a state, a state and also a civilization. today it's become an empire and it's become an empire across eurasia and the indian ocean that mirrors all of the empires in asia. the wong dynasty, and the early ming dynasty in the development of the belt and road road part. so it's not china we face anymore like henry kissinger, it's the chinese empire that will stretch all t

that is strong europe within a stable eurasia i think this is the destiny that is starting to emerge today and that mr trump is actually accelerating. that plant because it will take a short break right now when we're back we'll continue talking to. the former prime minister of france discussing many other pressing issues in you and france in particular have to deal with. so what we've got to do is identify the threats that we have it's crazy confrontation let it be an arms race based on off and spearing dramatic development only personally i'm going to resist i don't see how that strategy will be successful very critical of current times to sit down and talk. ministries police forces and city administrations of many countries depend on one corporation and that's what mike was hoping the board doesn't implement because i'm god i'm stumped on this is not the guns not the woods as the fee that you got into the sea it's a must also apply been proprietary software you don't know the source code isn't that a such a security risk when you have a black box operating in the public eye to mic

there's no one better to do that with then ian bremmer, his eurasia group where he is president and foundern from the new center for -- from the center for new american security and senior adviser to the eurasia group. is this the first time you two have been on tv together?

strong europe within a stable eurasia while. i think this is the destiny that is starting to emerge today and that mr trump is actually accelerating. because it will take a short break right now when we're back we'll continue talking to. the former prime minister of france discussing many other pressing issues e.u. and france in particular have to deal with stay with us. counting firms the banks the rating agencies the government and the central bank it's called a racket the u.k. profits from it and some way that's how the aristocracy keeps going and that's not going to stop. you know world of big part of the law and conspiracy it's time to wake up to dig deeper to hit the stories that mainstream media refuses to tell more than ever we need to be smarter we need to stop slamming the door on the shouting past each other it's time for critical thinking it's time to fight for the middle for the truth the time is now for watching closely watching the hawks. join me every thursday on the elec simon chill and i'll be speaking to guest

for a new vision of europe's future and more specifically that of a strong europe within a stable eurasia that is strong europe within a stable eurasia well i think this is the destiny that is starting to emerge today and that mr trump is actually accelerating. because we'll take a short break right now when we're back we'll continue talking to. the former prime minister of france discussing many other pressing issues e.u. and france in particular have to deal with stay with us. financial survival today was all about money laundering first to visit this cash into three different. is a good start well we have our three banks all set up here maybe something if you're going to america something over the cayman islands it will pull these banks are complicit in the kleptocracy who decide after all it's a murder to do some serious money laundering ok let's see how we did well we've got a nice luxury watch for max and for stacey old beautiful jewelry and how about. luxury automobile for mac. you know what money laundering. thank you so much has a record. ministries police forces and city adminis

cross live now to earl rasmussen who's the vice president of the eurasia center think tank thanks for being with us here on r t international so. the white house press secretary senator sanders we just heard there she accused the six former intelligence officials of politicizing and in some cases monetizing their public service is that a fair allegation considering i mean anyone who's ever held a government position to have to make money after they leave office and having a security clearance is kind of part of the deal. you know it's. they have politicized it quite a bit probably more than normally and monetizing it people are going to i mean there there are resources i mean from the intelligence side they've inside we get hired by corporations outside after we leave government for who we know and what we know and our own understanding of the process so really there's no. it's a fair statement but but i don't think there's anything outside of that that the politicization probably sometimes a little extreme and also former intelligence officials have security clearance for good reason

that is strong europe within a stable eurasia i think this is the destiny that is starting to emerge today and that mr trump is actually accelerating. that plant because it will take a short break right now when we're back we'll continue talking to jump. on the floor prime minister of france discussing many other pressing issues e.u. and france in particular have to deal with stay with us. ministries police forces and city administrations of many countries depend on one corporation that does what mike was hoping when the boy doesn't implement the eyes of god i'm stunned this is how the guns come to the. woods as everybody got into the city it's a must also bribe them proprietary software you don't know the source code isn't that a such a security risk when you have a black box operating in the public eye to microsoft dependency puts governments on to cyber threat and not only that to think office can put the same old. softness of the sense of selling missiles only one of them will still be continuing to move south toward the boldness and boardrooms of the us the small things this is

as an executive vice president of the eurasia center thank you for joining us on r.t. international we appreciate your insight. and just minutes before the news conference started a dramatic style of protest it was drunk from the venue is thought the sign he was carrying red nuclear weapons ban treaty. near the end of the news conference putin presented with a twenty eight he world cup people i think that it's on his side now a reference to the u.s. co-hosting the twenty twenty which makes it one of those with what you should be able to distinguish analysts were of course looking for any telltale signs from the leaders behavior and some think handshakes speak volumes their first one came when they met in helsinki and the second happened in front of the media before the start of talks we all started as down body experts body language experts how it felt when what we can read into it. trump is coming from a very very highly critical domestic america so he's he's got he's very aware that his whole country is looking at him and trying to interpret what is really going on b

that is strong europe within a stable eurasia i think this is the destiny that is starting to emerge today and that mr trump is actually accelerating. that point because it will take a short break right now when we're back we'll continue talking to. the former prime minister of france discussing many other pressing issues e.u. and france in particular have to deal with stay with us.

that is strong europe within a stable eurasia i think this is the destiny that is starting to emerge today and that mr trump is actually accelerating. the plan was will take a short break right now when we're back we'll continue talking to. the former prime minister of france discussing many other pressing issues e.u. and france in particular have to deal with.

up, my interview of the day with robert kaplan of eurasia group.n of marco polo. robert kaplan on china and the pacific rim. this is bloomberg. ♪ ♪ >> let's get your bloomberg business flash. another step aimed at winning regulatory approval for the world's largest industrial gas supply. foras agreed to sell assets $5.9 billion. sooth anti-trust concerns. shares toill buy back reassure investors spooked by word the justice department is investigating the traitor. u.s. officials have demanded documents related to possible money-laundering and corruption. a tragedy has deep in the turmoil at hna. the cochairman fell to his death while in southeast france. he was 57. hna has been selling billions of dollars in assets to stay afloat. the company could not generate enough profit last year to pay interest. that is your bloomberg business flash. tom: one of the facts we know is is one of the core thoughts is earnings start with revenue. we consider earnings season with gina martin adams. the income statements dynamic, a little balance sheet, but it starts

radio sputnik also in washington we have earl rescues and he is the executive vice president of the eurasia center and in managua we cross sudan copilot he is an adjunct professor of law at the university of pittsburgh as well as author of the plot to scapegoat russia all right gentlemen crosstalk rules in effect that means you can jump in anytime you want and i always appreciate it dan when did you finish writing your book the date. yes last last year like last so what did you know that we didn't know then because it sounds like an absolutely first big title for the moment in the current news cycle go ahead well russia. for a long long time you know we go as far back certainly as nineteen seventeen but certainly after or two we had you know what was known as the cold war.

the uerashean economic union is a -- you eurasia economic union is key.e're happy our partners are working with us. and this work is quite effective. we are using degration opportunities to stimulate the growth of the economies of all member states. and we want people and companies to feel the practical result of this work. we have a free trade zone with vietnam. we're engaged in talks with israel. serbia, singapore, soon we'll start talks with india. we have prepared a free trade agreement with iran. on the whole, we have about 50 treaties being prepared with the eurosect. we have good prospects in working together with china. signed an agreement with china on trade cooperation. euro sect and china's initiative of one belt, one road complement each other, harmonizing these projects will provide a strong foundation for asian -- eurasian. and we need to have a relationship with the european union. the e.u. remains one of our key trade partners. we have a lot of economic interests in common with the e.u. for decades, we've been developing together our trans

this is, they say, the largest opencast coal pit in eurasia and it on fire.rs in operation, it is shut down but now col self ignites in the open air. it causes headaches for the locals and authorities which need to find a solution. the company which owns the pitt says it has a plan. millions of tons of mud over the slopes, sealing the surface. and this is where the mud will come from. 20 kilometres away, the same company, rmk, is building the foundation for a giant copper extraction plant. putting them tons of copper bearing all will be milled here. 99.5% of what they dig out will become waste, thinly milled earth. mixed with water comedy leftovers will be transported to the coal pit side and snared —— spread over the smouldering slopes. but residents of chilli events are angry about the plan and about the extraction project. we want to breathe, it is a coalmine, not a dump, say those posters. piping leftovers into the mine is a convenient way for the company to deal with the waist but the protesters say the idea is dangerous. translation: copper enrichment b

media already simm fewer risks with the results of the summit executive vice president of the eurasia center. explained why he believes that they are so angry. we know the media for the most part is against it doesn't really matter what he does it doesn't matter. what agreements are made they're still going to be against them and it's unfortunate and we can thank god that they are not responsible for diplomacy even though they try to influence the foreign policy significantly but. i think it's just it's the continuing anti trump saga that's going on and. and really without evidence without just. it's kind of ingrained in their in their d.n.a. perhaps d.n.a. hopefully that we can get past just minutes before the news conference started joran alist was dragged from the venue as that he was carrying a sign which read nuclear weapons ban treaty. towards the end of the press conference put in presided trump with twenty eight. and comment on the u.s.s. cole hosting the two thousand and twenty six when in the end of the endless war of course looking for any signs from their leader is behavio

long time friend of the atlantic council, natalie juresko who is also distinguished fellow with our eurasia center. let me also take this opportunity to recognize and welcome back to the council our keynote speakers, senator mark warner from the commonwealth of virginia. and senator marco rubio from florida. we always love it when we have bipartisan showing from congress, from the senate on an issue of this importance. so thank you for your leadership, and for bringing your valuable perspectives. i also would like to thank senator amy clo klobuchar from joining us earlier. i want to thank those from italy, sweden, uk, canada, european parliament and poland, ukraine, the ambassador from latvia, czech republic, uk, minister from estonia and canada incredibly impressive group of legislators. so thank you all for traveling here, some from quite far away to share your knowledge and experiences. for years russia under vladimir putin has engaged in activities aimed at destabilizing democracy in europe and the united states. the kremlin leverages an asymmetric arsenal that includes cyber attacks an

this is the largest open cut coal face in eurasia and it is on fire.peration but now the coal ignites an open—air. the smoke causes headaches for the locals and for authorities to need a solution. the company that owns the pitt says it has a plan. pour millions of tons of mud over the slopes and sealed surface. is where the mud will come from. 20 kilometres away, the same company is building the foundation for a company is building the foundation fora giant company is building the foundation for a giant copper extraction plant. 28 million tons of copper there will be milled here each year. 99.5% of what they did out will become waste. mixed with water, these leftovers will be transported to the coal pit and some bread over the smouldering slopes. —— spread over the smouldering slopes. residence of chelyabinsk are angry about the plan. we want to breathe. it is a coal mine, not a dump, plan. we want to breathe. it is a coal mine, nota dump, said plan. we want to breathe. it is a coal mine, not a dump, said the posters. this place has become a symbol of

bring you robert kaplan from the center for a new american security and also senior adviser to the eurasia the first time you two have been on tv together? are you doing this weekly?

and we're thrilled to bring you robert kaplan, senior adviser to the eurasia group.irst time you two have been on tv together? are you

in addition last month our eurasia center watched an interactive online guide to learn about the kremlin's disinformation campaigns. the portal, which features over 30 partner organizations and over 125 experts from the u.s. and europe further cemented our commitment to this set of issues. it underlines what the atlantic council is really about on everything we do which is we're stronger working with allies. this work is helping us understand the challenge we understand the challenge we face from maligned state actors and not just russia so we cannot only counter it but build bridges to a more resilient future. so, to kick us after for our work today, i have the distinct pleasure of women koling senator mark warner and senator marco rubio to our stage for a discussion which will be moderated by jill dougherty. senator mark warner and senator rubio, come up here as well. thank you. senator warner has served in the u.s. senate since 2008 and established himself as a leader on a great number of issues including this one. he's the vice chairman of the senate select committee on intelligence an

meredith sumpter of eurasia group says the u.s.nd china are inching ever closer to a major trade conflict. this is bloomberg. ♪ shery: this is bloomberg markets. i'm shery ahn. vonnie: i'm vonnie quinn. president trump trade spat with china could hit both ways. chairman powell warning of the side effect during his testimony to the senate earlier. >> countries that have remained open to trade that haven't erected barriers including tariffs have grown faster. they have had higher incomes and productivity in countries who have gone in a more protectionist direction. that is the empirical result. bring in meredith sumpter, eurasia group head of research strategy and operations. the fed chair may feel that way that is going to have to make monetary policy adapt if there is indeed a trade war. what are the odds of a full-blown all out no holds barred trade war? >> we are looking for whether we are going to see a confrontation beyond the 50 billion of goods the president has started to implement tariffs on. china has retaliated with those

partnership in dire straits will brussels be forced to forge a new continental alliance is going to eurasia compensate for the lack of a western one you diplomatic network the global tempest. a class of all this former prime minister of france welcome to the show it's really great to have you with us. france has promised to remain committed to the iran nuclear deal and struggles along with germany u.k. russia and china to keep it on life as you need but with us cutting air to european business in iran but there's a little left to win for tehran for these deals so let's be realistic a deal has no chance to survive without the americans and does it. we think from that the nuclear deal must be saved because it is very important today to give iran a seat at the table with other nations or the international community needs iran and we have to make sure that iran not only participates in the community but also that it commits to denuclearization this is the french stance. but since mr trump in a unilateral way and that for us means in a rather disagreeable way has chosen his path this means that

he went on to accuse trump of being in the pocket of the russian leader and vice president of the eurasia center think tank believes some former intelligence officials may have gone too far with their comments to the media. it's very it's very disturbing. usually those people. you know take a take a step back and people ask him advice but seldom do you see them taking so much. of a role. talking to the media openly lecturing and giving comments like that so does it really matter whether or not they have a clearance or not probably not. doesn't limit maybe some of the discussions they may have with former colleagues and stuff perhaps. but but they should not be receiving access to that information as it is even if they'd have to clear so i see very little impact on on them they're still going to make their statement maybe even be even more. make more statements. you propose plaque to be added to a statue commemorating a famous merchant involved in the slave trade has divided locals in the english city of bristol edward colston is a prominent figure in the city's history for his philanthrop

radio sputnik also in washington we have earl rescues and he is the executive vice president of the eurasia center and. managua across sudan koba like he is an adjunct professor of law at the university of pittsburgh as well as author of the plot to scapegoat russia or a gentleman cross-like rules in effect that means you can jump in anytime you want and i always appreciate it dan when did you finish writing your book the date. yes last last year like last spring so what did you know that we didn't know then because it sounds like an absolutely perfect idle for the moment in the current news cycle go ahead well russia's been a scapegoat united states for a long long time you know we could go as far back certainly as nine hundred seventeen but certainly after or two we had you know what was known as the cold war which. centered upon the vilification of russia to justify the us. benchers abroad and we are in a new cold war now and we were it was an it. and it seems to be only intensified even though the soviet union collapsed in one thousand nine hundred one the us has developed by russian en

stadium the quarter final of the world cup continues to chew after the exits are between russia and eurasia the managers and the players are on the pitch.

so we've now crossed live to earl rasmussen who's the executive vice president of the eurasia center a thanks for being with us here on our team international quaintance of the victims claiming they didn't there again that is not a fair point and. so we can't really be definitive about that deed it is solved very again sign of it being there john it's going to be certainly. it has quite a fairly short and it deteriorates the effectiveness that you're it's rather rapidly through moisture in the air so that really two words and that's what it may be a link to. it it doesn't seem to be very unlikely that that it could be after four months this is. i think it's highly unlikely that it that it is something that was laying around salisbury where you alluded to the clean up places associated with this great palls here that we're dealing with leftovers of that attempt to help them or hurt them in their investigation you know it's going to be . it's going be very difficult i think because. what i've read at least in the they did not that the script did so secondary kind of transfer of was it

al-jazeera washington well moxon makowski is a nonresident senior fellow at the atlantic council's eurasia center he says the summit has damaged mr trump's credibility. this summit was an opportunity for president trying to bridge the distance between those that accuse him of being too close to president putin to ignoring the facts of meddling in elections and a set a new tone for a strong american president that can stand up to our adversaries he failed on all counts in many ways he actually widen the gap between those that don't feel the u.s. president has the capability and the credibility to implement u.s. foreign policy and the fact that you're seeing republican pundits and congress members and even supporters of the president come out with criticism i think showcases that in many ways the historical aspect of this summit is that this could be actually a spring moment for further opposition to president trump as well as further ammunition for special prosecutor mauler and his investigation of president campaign is dies to russia. crowds of march through nicaragua as capital managua to

radio sputnik also in washington we have earl rescues and he is the executive vice president of the eurasia center and in managua we cross sudan copilot he is an adjunct professor of law at the university of pittsburgh as well as author of the plot to scapegoat russia all right gentlemen crosstalk rules in effect that means you can jump in anytime you want and i always appreciate it dan when did you finish writing your book the date. yes last last year like last so what did you know that we didn't know then because it sounds like an absolutely perfect idle for the moment in the current news cycle go ahead. well russia has been a scapegoat at the united states for a long long time you know we could go as far back certainly as nine hundred seventeen but certainly after world war two we had you know what was known as the cold war which. centered upon the vilification of russia to justify the u.s. is. benchers abroad and we are in a new cold war now and we were it was on it. and it seems to be only a tense of five even though the soviet union collapsed in one thousand nine hundred one the u.s.

the two countries and in the long term it could do the same to the power balance in the whole of eurasia. if in the past the silk road was called the axis of the world if you control that road you control the world. china has. chosen the city of chong xing as the starting point for its new silk road. with a population of around thirty five million almost as many as beijing and shanghai combined chung xing is china's largest urban area. few people in the west have actually heard of chong xing but this mega-city on the young sea river is a symbol of the economic boom the country has been experiencing for the past thirty years. while growth is tapering off in the major industrial centers of long show and shenzhen chung xing is proving every day a new that it's one of the future engines of china's economic development. growth has long been based on heavy industry with cheap labor from the countryside . but in recent years the megacity has put all its energy behind the giants of the electronics industry. thanks to this transformation junction can now boast a growth rate in double figures. mar

that means we will continue to develop ourselves in china, latin america, eurasia, africa, middle east india. this is exactly what we are doing now, but for the time being yes it is great to be a , european carmaker and create value in europe. >> general motors announced second-quarter earnings, beating estimates for earnings per share and showing record returns from china and its financing business. but also, it took its guidance for the year down. >> big picture, we're seeing $1 billion of unmitigated headwinds for the balance of the year. some came in q2 and we expect it to continue for the rest of the year. roughly half of that is commodity increases and roughly half of it is currency primarily , south america, hence our view it was prudent to recalibrate expectations for overall earnings this year. >> ford reported results earlier this hour, adjusted earnings per share $.27, trailing estimates. in addition, ford cut its 2018 earning outlook and season $11 billion restructuring charge over the next three to five years. >> the issue we have in china, as well as europe, those were th

coming up, meredith sumpter the head of research strategy at eurasia group will give her on the latestriffs. this is bloomberg. ♪ >> i'm mark crumpton. new york, new jersey, connecticut and maryland are suing the federal government over the republican lead tax overhaul. the legislation caps the deduction for state and local taxes at $10,000. andrew cuomo claims the tax bill is unconstitutional and was crafted specifically to hurt blue states. iran says there is room for nuclear cooperation with the united states. the spokesman for the nuclear agency of iran said it wants washington to stop its hostile policy toward tehran. pulledpresident trump the united states out of the landmark 2015 nuclear deal because he felt it wasn't strong enough. or migrants and refugees have arrived in spain this year than those who have reached italy. people have,000 reached spain so far this year. aid groups have reported a rise in the crossings to spain and greece compared to the previous year while arrivals in italy are down almost 80% from 2017. the united states is expecting north korea t

deputy us is former assistant of defense for russia, ukraine, and eurasia, michael carpenter., great to have you back. give us your reaction to the summit. michael: we do not know much about the summit but the press conference was an amazing piece of work by the presidents, particularly by president trump who essentially parroted vladimir putin's talking points, the conclusions of his own intelligence community after just having learned on friday through the robert mueller indictment in detail how russia's military intelligence service launched a cyber attack against our country, and yet he questioned it publicly on the podium and throughout all kinds of conspiracy theories one would expect to be hearing from the russians. unprecedented and borderline unprecedented and borderline treasonous to be taking this position. it is hard to articulate this without sounding hyperbolic. this is something we've never seen before. shery: last time i spoke with you was after a russians poisoning of a former spy on you case oil. soil.then we -- on u.k. since then we have had this summit, the

i do think there is a desire to drive a wedge between russia and china in order to assure the eurasia line mass running through to europe isn't kind of a unified block, which effectively gives transportation, trading and other links, a kind of land route from the far east to what you can call the far west. i think that's a chris him that wants to be exploited. i expect the discussions are, what is the price that president putin may want to extract, in order to be able to sort of cut loose a bit from china and flow is lost a little bit with the united states. >> it's so interesting, isn't it? the tracks that you are seeing. we got this track that you are discussion and the track of the russian investigation ongoing and trump's lawyer may be flipping and have some information that perhaps mr. trump did know about that infamous meeting involving russians and that could turn this significantly. could it not? if it is true in. >> well, absolutely. i think the amount of pressure which is coming from within the kind of beltway politics. this is largely where this remains. i'm not sure how va

ramy: we will continue the conversation with eurasia group asia director michael.alk about it in 45 minutes time. he thinks that a truce between the u.s. and china will come before the midterms. when he comes on air. this is interesting because some might think that he might wait until after to rally his base for elections. china's retaliation will say measured as well as calibrated. haidi: we'll get another indicator of how the chinese economy will hold up. we will be joined by capital economics china economist julian he sees producer price inflation coming in a little bit higher, boosted by the feedthrough from oil prices and higher food prices as well. and also saying that given that we are looking at a progrowth stance, the implications when it comes to the structural changes that beijing is trying to put through as well. taking a look at what comes next in this trade war. there is plenty more to come from daybreak australia. it looks like asian markets will get off on the right foot again after a difficult couple of weeks. outside of .6% one we get into the sy

long time friend of the atlantic council, natalie juresko who is also distinguished fellow with our eurasia center. let me also take this opportunity to recognize and welcome back to the council our keynote speakers, senator mark warner from the commonwealth of virginia. and senator marco rubio from florida. we always love it when we have bipartisan showing from congress, from the senate on an issue of this importance. so thank you for your leadership, and for bringing your valuable perspectives. i also would like to thank senator amy clo klobuchar from joining us earlier. i want to thank those from italy, sweden, uk, canada, european parliament and poland, ukraine, the ambassador from latvia, czech republic, uk, minister from estonia and canada incredibly impressive group of legislators. so thank you all for traveling here, some from quite far away to share your knowledge and experiences. for years russia under vladimir putin has engaged in activities aimed at destabilizing democracy in europe and the united states. the kremlin leverages an asymmetric arsenal that includes cyber attacks an

now let's bring in head of the russia and you're raise i can y -- eurasia program.heard what we discussed there. typically we'd hear the u.s. version of events, we'd hear the russian version of events. and there would be a noticeable difference, right, in what was said and even agreed to. in this case we're not hearing from the u.s. really. and as sam rightly points out, russia owning the narrative here. >> yeah, that is exactly right. that is because donald trump has managed to go back on everything that he said, then tweet something different, then change his mind and therefore the american idea on this has been to keep stern as much as possible. sorry, there is a great deal of feedback here, so hard for me to speak to you. >> it is okay. ear heari we're hearing you fine. always difficult when the feedback comes into these exchanges. but yes, your point quite interesting and search important to hear. let's talk about the backlash that we saw from the helsinki summit. president trump recently insisting though that he has never bacgiven russia a pass. let's listen.

. >> and now, the president of the eurasia group is joining littl cell phone, or at least that i noticedr one from you about the president tossing star bursts at angela merkel after the g7 saying don't say i didn't give you anything, angela. given that that was their last interaction, what's it going to be like for donald trump tomorrow? >> he said his meeting with putin is going to be easier. that's right. it's going to be more friendly. of all the allies, the most problematic is angela merkel. it's trade, human rights, multilateral defense and defense spending. two allies are meeting the 2% mark. many more are on track to do so by 2024. germany is not. this is going to be a very contentious meeting on every front, and trump is loaded for bear. you can tell on the plane he's already sending out the they're not paying, this is unacceptable. i think what we have to watch for is whether trump implies or states directly that they have a deadline and if they don't actually make their 2% commitment, particularly germany, then the united states is not interested in maintaining troops on the gr

let's go to our cia official, and also a msnbc contributor, and also our reporter for ukraine and eurasia and a member of the security kocouncil, and evelyn, will you take it from there and why do the former officials retain the security counc council? >> well, it is good government and good politics. in government, you are dealing with the emergencies that the crop up with a country, and say iran, and you want the latest and the greatest information, but then you also want the experience, and the expertise from the people who have dealt with the country or maybe the personalities before, and we look at north korea. they have not had a change in terms of the negotiators and the people in the top negotiators with the people in the united states about nuclear weapons, and that i have not changed the personnel, and we have. so we want to be able to call those people back in to give us expertise and that is one thing. and the second thing is that you do the war games, and in the department of defense we would do war games and call in the people who understand the department of defense, and un

joined by evelyn farkas, the former deputy assistant secretary of defense for russia, ukraine and eurasia. she's also an msnbc national security analyst. you know, ukraine is an interesting point to bring up here. ukraine was not a nato member. they started to try and be a little more western facing, some say with the goal of ultimately joining nato, although that wasn't on the horizon. and then look what happened. so one could use the argument that that's kind of what nato is for, to make sure that it's not all ukraine. >> yes, ali. what happened with ukraine was in 2008 nato held its summit and our president at the time, george w. bush, wanted very much for ukraine and georgia to be accepted as members of nato and they wanted to be put on the path to membership so it wouldn't have happened overnight. the german chancellor, angela merkel at the time, said no way. the ukrainians aren't ready, the georgians aren't ready and the russians are going to react. what happened is we found this compromise where we said okay, eventually ukraine and georgia will become members of nato and russia did