these countries were targeted by the george h w bush, or george w bush, the senior vice president of ronald reagan and bribed with hundreds of millions of dollars. and these monies were given the countries in exchange for their acquiescence and their submission to american military and economic and political objectives. no ring of nato military bases is being formed around russia. the u. s. and nato have over 600 military base as well to wide. russia has just 18, but the west still claims that russia has aggressive intent by turning this russian soviets into this dangerous bo, you man, that wants to take over the world. that was a conscious strategy to create this image. it soviets as out for world conquest, which was not the case then for now with nato should have died, but they will give it meaning. it is about infected, created by nato, nature's business machine. because you must remember, if nato disbanded shareholders in the united states and elsewhere in lodge obs companies would lose millions and millions, they'd only have one yacht instead of 2 yards each. there. oh dear, wou

i think pouring gasoline on that fire, george w. bush at the bluegrass conference in 2008, first and 2007, putin is at the security conference. he lays down a line. georgia and ukraine are not going to join nato. 2008, george w. bush goes up after the bucharest conference, a nato meeting, and says, we want ukraine and georgia to join nato. that seems like a really important turning point here. >> that is very true. i think if you take a step back, really the issue, not the expansion of nato, especially the expansion of nato as it was up until 2004, the baltic republic, poland, czech republic. i mean it's true the russians did not like it. they lived with it. it was not at the end of the world. >> there is not much they can do to stop it. >> there is not much they could do, did you to stop it. that's not the crux of the matter. even those issues with the bucharest summit, unfortunate wording i think, most people agree it's regrettable that w. bush put it in those terms. i think it's not even that. i think the heart of the story is, for th

george w bush and putin come on together and george w bush certainly sought a reset with russia. he was very chummy with putin. we all remember the fishing trip, and that was later in the process. they're very first joint news conference george w bush was at the podium putin was standing next to him. he said russia is not the enemy of the united states. the cold war is over, right, but putin didn't get what he wanted from bush and some historians have argued. this is a big reason why he became he becomes more and more authoritarian and autocratic. i wouldn't put the us at the center of the story and that way. i think that putin became autocratic for internal. okay reasons, it speaks to his personality his sense of power. the vision that he has for for russia eventually he latches on to a very, you know, sort of conservative in the sense of reactionary autocratic vision ultra rationalist. yes of russia's past and of russia's future, and i don't think that that's a function of anything george w bush did or anything at the us did although the us has always the the foil to to putin's

former george w. bush white house press secretary ari fleischer argues that mainstream media has a bias and is dominated by the left. he is interviewed by fox news senior political analyst and author juan williams. "after words" is a weekly interview program with relevant guest hosts interviewing top nonfiction authors about their latest work. >> host: ari fleischer, thanks for joining us today. >> guest: thank you. >> host: let me begin by giving you the p opportunity to tell people about the book, the thesis. >> guest: my thesis is that the mainstream media is one of the biggest causes of the polarization in america today. that the number of stories they put on the air that were wrong, most of all of which were to get donald trumpmb and hurt republicans or conservatives, the number of stories that they suppressed which would've hurt joe biden particularly during the campaign, have added up to a nation that no longer trust the mainstream media. our democracy needs to have i mainstream media that people re

and then it was stole from al gore and then to say that george bush stole the election. ld trump does it the most and louder than anybody else but to say that bush told the election in 2000 and then to cite cases where democrats said that machines were tainted in the 2004 election cases where hillary clinton m questioned the popular vote because she alleged something had to happen to turn the election away from john kerry in 2004. case after case subjecting and how many democrats tried to overturn the election also saying that he was not the legitimate winner to say the members of the electoral college needed a briefing to find out what happened that trump colluded with russia. he didn't but they said he did in the man with the classified briefing of the electoral college. >> what difference and clearly al gore did not exercise to undo the election and clearly there was no attack by the clinton and gore supporters leading to people dying and there is no suggestion from the democrats that somehow that bush was not if you are comparing apples and oranges. >> that you asked

thatcher pope ivan paul ii and here is a photo of the then president reagan and vice president george w. bush in the background of the twin towers, but here is a photo in which gorbachev is carrying president bush on a golf course, what is the hour mr. gorbachev tear down this wall just 6 months later in the white house two leaders signed the cis treaty at every meeting you repeat this with what he called the reforms that should were to revolutionize the soviet system for many of their compatriots. gorbachev will forever remain the man who allowed the great soviet empire to collapse, subjected millions of people to deprivation and humiliation. even gorbachev himself expressed regret i fought with all my might to defend the soviet union but i failed in the west, he was revered and glorified as the great statesman nobel peace prize winner who played a decisive role in ending the cold war peacefully, resolving the most dangerous confrontation of the 20th century, one of the things that we have to pay attention to with mikhail gorbachev is that he was not very popular in russia, especially during

. >> host: you were press secretary to president george w. bush and i'm sitting here thinking is there any press secretary who's ever been in the white house who would say oh you no press didn't treat my guy fairly and i've no complaints. if no part of being in the combat of the modern world especially modern media to say a big mike candid that was treated fairly? gezdah that's my point about president trump but i didn't vote for him in 2016 but i did vote for him in two 2020 but i don't work or donald trump in the light try to call balls and strikes as they see them if you are partisan worker working for candidate in office you feel that the press is tough on on you to let's go to neutral source but there was a study done in my book on ts the covere of the five most recent presidents and they determined none of the last five got easy coverage in their first 60 days in office as joe biden. he got better covered some barack obama and the two that goto' the hardest coverage were trump and bush. so empirical studies show joe biden up the softest easi

area you were press secretary to president george w bush, and i'm sitting here thinking is there any press secretary? who's ever been in the white house? would say oh, you know the press treated my guy or yeah, my guy fairly and i have no complaints, isn't it? just part of being in the big game in the combat of the modern world, especially modern media to say, you know what? i don't think my candidate was treated fairly. yeah, but that's my point about president trump. i wouldn't necessarily say i didn't vote for him in 2016. i did vote for him in 2020. i don't work for donald trump and again one i try to call the balls and strikes as i see them. so yes if you're a partisan working for a candidate in office. yeah, you always feel like the press is tough on you, but let's go to a neutral source. there was a study done. it's in my book of the coverage of the five most recent presidents and they determined that no none of the last five god as soft and as easy coverage in their first 60 days in office as joe biden, he got easier and softer coverage than barak obama, of course the two who

, the ukrainian parliament was visited by an honored guest, the president of the united states, george bushed on the deputies to give up their aspirations for independence, this speech went down in history with the humorous name of chikenki sich kotsata, in kyivan, this is how she was baptized the new york times newspaper, which accused president bush of short-sightedness, sambush later admitted in his memoirs that he was very afraid of a repetition of the yugoslav scenario in the ussr and supported gorbachev, who tried to prevent the collapse of the last empire . we need to tighten our belt. that we received from the american allies, and it was so painful for us. as in real life, because the former's words about suicidal nationalism, about the need to preserve the soviet union, these were all good words, but we i perfectly understand the main reason why he says this, he was only concerned about nuclear weapons and the control over nuclear weapons, part of which was in ukraine. in fact, before the invasion of ukraine, bush received a secret report. this movement considered four possible opt

you know, look where we are -- and president bush, george w. a country and the autocracy behind it. >> for them to go out of their way, sam stein, if you want to nail this down in less than a minute? >> sure. yeah, i think david hits the nail on the head that the animating principle on the right at this juncture, two things. one is that the election was stolen from donald trump. and if you are to argue otherwise, you are seriously at risk of losing your seat. and then the second thing is that, you know, there's a threat of anti-immigration. you know, you could call it right-wing nationalism, that basically says we need to stop migration into this country at all costs. those are the two things that bind the party together and they're the most prominent features at cpac this week. >> well, sam stein, david jolly, anita mcbride, thank you so much for wrapping up our week here today. we really appreciate it. happy weekend to all. that does it for this expanded edition of "andrea mitchell reports." remember, follow us online on facebook and on twitte

>> certainly, i'm thinking george bush, sr., george h.w., and reagan, you would have to go back to reaganwas probably the most important for the world. those two countries bristling with nuclear weapons. and the fact that they got together and decided that they were going to reduce the number of weapons and bring some type of stability. i think also, when you get to the end of the soviet union, his relationship was almost with any almost leader was usually quite personal. there are very interesting letters that he exchanged with george h.w. bush. and with reagan. and i think when you look at these letters, you realize that i think he understood that he was moving russia into a new world. and yet he was a -- i wouldn't say he was modest, but there was a certain kind of down to earth modesty about him, too, that i always remember. and i think when you think of russia today, i don't want to get too much into today, because it's a time to remember mr. gorbachev, but the openness and the information that people were exposed to at that point, the reverse is happening today, sadly. russia is shu

you know, one thing that we get is that president george bush in the us was very hostile to the idea of the soviet union breaking up. and he, he went to ukraine in the autumn and argued against ukrainian independence. and, and there was a lot of feeling in those times in those months, as the soviet union approached a lapse. that really this was going to be a hugely d, stabilizing an element, not just in europe, but in the world as a whole. and there was a, there were some resistance to that, but i think the world, the one big negative. and in fact, to my mind, it was a mistake on the western side, quite as much as it was a mistake on the, on the russian side. was that the way, despite the word of george bush, when he was president, and there was to be no triumphalism. there was no, no, as it were dancing august right off the soviet union. nonetheless, in practice, that sort of, it was treated us a victory, a victory in geo political terms and victory in ideological terms for what the americans would call the free world. and i think in some ways, indirectly, that lead slightly to wher

was that the way, despite the works of george bush, when he was president. and there was to be no triumphalism, that was no new as it were, dancing on grades of the soviet union. none the less in practice that sort of what happened. it was treated as a victory, a victory in g, a political terms, and a victory in ideological terms for what the americans would call the free world. and i think in some ways, indirectly, that lead slightly to where we are today, where the sense that russia last. so for respect or at least it lost respect from other parts of the world. and the sense that russia emerged much weaker and that it wasn't being treated as a great power. and i think there were ways that the west could have behaved differently that might have made what we're looking at today may be less likely than what's happened. fascinating with thank you for coming in the program area and sharing your views and, and did your memories of fair. one of the most monmouth figures of the 20th century married to jeff ski writer and broadcaster live in art. well one indisputa

let's start with george bush. we all remember, after hurricane christina fema basically was a mess and so is new orleans. the headlines read that we looked like a third world country which we did. in the inability to help people with all the resources and planes, trains, and automobiles we have in the u.s. military, we could not help people for days and even months. that took a toll on bush's second term. he had gone into the second term with a clean mandate, he had actually won the election clearly. unlike years before. he had big plans. his plans were on social security reform. the white house had set up this whole operation. if you look at what happened to george bush and his presidency, basically after that, he could not do anything. he basically was unable to have the political capital to make anything happen. obama and his second term gets to implement his pride and joy, the affordable care act. what happens is that all the websites crash, there are hundreds of thousands of americans trying to buy health car

and then here, this is in 1990, prime minister george bush -- president george bush the first appointsarnold schwarzenegger as head of the council on florida -- on physical fitness. now, i want to pause here because this is remarkable. we talk about how marginal hermosa beach was and weight lifting was. the requested that a republican and conservative president would be appointing arnold schwarzenegger as the head of the presidential council on fitness, that says a lot about the mainstreaming of workout culture in the united states. dance aerobics instructor who was really promoting exercise for girls would be writing pe curriculum, that does suggest a real change that i don't want to minimize. on the other hand, i want to close by talking about a few people who talked about that path not taken. can you imagine a phys ed teacher comes from this -- [inaudible] she still calls herself ms. buns of steel. she became very successful in the '80s and '90s. she starred in a whole lot of dvds and did well for herself through that. now, when i interviewed her, she told me she was a kid who grew

george bush wasn't reelected after he said no new taxes.f you do something wrong, you won't be reelected. host: our next caller is kirk in alabama. caller: good morning. good morning to the country. thank you for taking michael. you are you are someone kneeled. i haven't -- new. i have never seen you before. you're doing a good job. i thought the subject was who do you trust on law & order issues, but everyone is calling in and talking about the national business, politics with trump and biden and all the rest. as a new yorker for the most part, pertaining to law & order and issues of the country -- and only -- country nationally, i believe the republicans are better. as a new yorker lived through mayor koch to mayor bloomberg, as a black man, democratic police commissioner's, democratic cities, they are run into the ground. the black mayors, the black police commissioner's, they do not put the hammer down on crime. they are soft armed crime as opposed to the republicans who are hard on crime and did they are way more supportive of the demo

she did not have a high bush of george w. bush and his presidency. even though itug cost her membes to push the legislation she did it because the alternative look too u grim. >> tell us about she took on a particularly iconic status during the trump years in the orange coat with the big collar straightened down to the white house to the cameras there. do you think she had trump's number because she had encountered him and she had seen him inn baltimore? she had seen him in san francisco politics, she had encountered people i can before? >> donald trump is a very distinctive figure. i'mse not sure i know a lot of people are like donald trump. >> he everybody knows, he grew jersey and york you note trump, you know people like you know bullies like it got punch him in the face. >> i grew up in kansas. [laughter] but she had hisal number. but she knew how to deal, she knew how to deal with aggressive men and bullies. she had grown up with five older brothers, how do you think she managed to handle herself there? there is probably also good training. she

i'm george w bush, and this is master class. if you've been looking to work on your leadership skills, then master class has the mentor for you. former us president george w bush is the newest talent acquired by the streaming platform. and he's featured in a lecture series on authentic leadership. yes, you heard that right? the same man who authorized the u. s. invasions of iraq and afghanistan is now lecturing the public on tough calls he has made during his career. and they are expected to pay for his advice. as president sometimes, and i had information to the american people didn't know and therefore i did make decisions. what was best for the country on knowledge? there wasn't a but well, the theories includes topics such as accountability leads to results. it doesn't give any tips on how bush himself has escaped accountability for the last 2 decades . although bush has been rehabilitated into a harmless grandfather who enjoys painting and sharing candy with former 1st lady michelle obama. his real legacy will never be forgo