the election trump's business partner to be the philippines special economic envoy to the u.s. >> ivan watsono digest there. thank you for the reporting. appreciate it. let's bring in ben ferguson, a cnn political commentator. mark lamont hill. a professor at moorehouse college. just digesting what ivan just said. this is not being done in a vacuum. it is in the span of a week. the president having controversial conversations with the leaders of pakistan and the philippines. throughout the campaign, protect trump did have any understanding of the delicate balances that exist. "bold and the beautiful" said he is goes to engage north korea. although it had not been done, that was not a sufficient reason not to do it. it doesn't seem if he had a sophisticated nuanced, it was just the relationship. and so that lack of knowledge -- >> so kellyanne conway said that is not the case. he is aware of u.s. policy, he is engaged and briefed. i want to read you something that he said in august, why he would not disavoi what some see as an embrace of russian president vladimir putin. >> they say putin like

ivan watson, cnn. >>> coming up next a behind the scenes look at one of the best-selling bands ever -chicago. ♪ ♪ i herd her say no matter how the markets change... at t. rowe price... our disciplined approach remains. global markets may be uncertain... but you can feel confident in our investment experience around the world. call us or your advisor... t. rowe price. invest with confidence. hey, evan. so, you're stuck at a work thing. with directv and at&t you can stream all your favorite shows without using your data. that makes you more powerful than a table for 60. wednesdays are the new thursdays! or the mandatory after party. how early is too early to leave? you're not going anywhere. i'm not going anywhere. it's your tv, take it with you. watch all your live directv channels, on at&t, data free. tadirectv now. stream all your entertainment! anywhere! anytime! can we lose the 'all'. there's no cbs and we don't have a ton of sports. anywhere, any... let's lose the 'anywhere, anytime' too. you can't download on-the-go, there's no dvr, yada yada yada. stream some stuff! somewhere! s

our cnn senior international correspondent ivan watson finds out why. >> reporter: in the aftermath of from presidents with tough guy personas who have had tense relations with the u.s. the russian president calls trump a successful entrepreneur, a man who is, quote, probably clever. turkey's president jumped to the president elect support calling anti-trump street protests, quote, a disrespect to democracy. and then there's the president of the philippines who not long ago told president obama he could go to hell. >> i would like to congratulate president trump. [ speaking foreign language ] >> reporter: why do these strong men seem to like donald trump? >> i would call it their capacity to provide simple answers to very complicated questions. that what we're seeing at the moment in the world today is a loss of threats and crises and uncertainty, and what these leaders are providing is simplistic answers, black and white, close the borders, no more foreigners. >> reporter: vladimir putin first came to power in 1999, delighting many russians with his promise to hunt down and kill chech

cnn's ivan watson says they even tried to warn the west but were ignored. >> reporter: the kremlin isigorously denying accusations that russia hacked and targeted the u.s. presidential election of november. but a number of former soviet republics, leaders, and former leaders from those countries are adding their own criticism and accusations saying that they've been warning the u.s. government for years about similar tactics coming from russia targeting their own democracies. take a listen. >> i almost was like vindicated when the same administration in washington suddenly started to speak about russian involvement in elections. they were the same people telling us, no, it cannot possibly be true. and now it came to their doorsteps. and so -- of course he does all those things. of course he's massive, he controls the greatest amount of black cash anybody controlled in history. >> when it comes to information for at least for i think ten years. probably some things that you discovered as new in your pre-election, and we've been seeing it already for years. >> reporter: in kiev, the ukr

ivan watson, cnn, hong kong. >>> finally, from us today, beloved astronaut and u.s.enn has died. he was a plumber and served in world war ii and the korean war as a pilot. later he became a pioneer in the golden age of space travel, the first american to orbit the earth. >> first glimpse of the conquering hero, colonel john h. glenn. he left his footprints among the star. >> immortalized in the 1983 movie "the right stuff." he went on then to represent the state of ohio in the u.s. senate for 24 years, though he didn't achieve his goal of making it all the way to the white house when he ran for president in 1984. >> the nomination of my party, i firmly believe i can beat ronald reagan. >> at the age of 77, glenn blazed another trail into space, aboard the shuttle discovery, the oldest toronastronaut ever take flight. he inspired a nation. his was truly a life well lived. president obama said glenn's life inspired us to reach for the heavens. and president-elect trump today mourned the loss of a great pioneer. but perhaps nasa summed it up best this afternoon, echoing

joining me now fareed zachary and ivan watson. a lot of people are say so what, it's phone call. it is a diplomatic break. not the tradition but does it really matter? >> it is a huge break. welcome 47 years of diplomatic tradition. the united states does not really recognize taiwan as country. it has not recognized, allowed for a certain kind of constructive ambiguity. >> we don't have an embassy. >> constructive ambiguity. we don't completely buy the chinese argument that this is all one country. but the really worrying thing is, is donald trump winging this? or is it part of a sustained policy that makes sense that's been talked through. if it is the latter, fine. let's understand the policy, understand the pluses and minuses. kellyanne conway said the president elect is having private conversation with world leaders. the president elect and the president don't get to have private conversations really with anyone. there is historically always been a government official, a state department note taker who is recording what is happening to make sure first of all that it is there

ivan watson, cnn, riga. >>> all right. 7:26 right now.nd there are 2 million people expected to watch the ball drop in new york. i want to give you a live shot at times square right now. you know the stages are set. people are filtering in because you got to get that spot or you're going to lose it. we'll take you there live, too. authorities are doing a few things very different this year to try to keep everybody safe. nothing. only glad has febreze to neutralize odors for 5 days. guaranteed. even the most perceptive noses won't notice the trash. be happy. it's glad. afoot and light-hearted i take to the open road. healthy, free, the world before me, the long brown path before me leading wherever i choose. the east and the west are mine. the north and the south are mine. all seems beautiful to me. the market.redict but through good times and bad... ...at t. rowe price... ...we've helped our investors stay confident for over 75 years. call us or your advisor. t. rowe price. invest with confidence. ♪ >>> 7:29 on a saturday morning. and i'm

cnn's senior international correspondent ivan watson is live in kiev with more. what have you learned, ivan? >>> good morning, alisyn. a number of high ranking officials and former officials from former soviet republics all saying that they had previously warned the u.s. government that their countries had been the target for years of what they believe to have been russian cyber attacks, and russian other forms of hybrid warfare. i spoke with the former president of the republic of georgia, who accuses russia of meddling in georgia's 2012 parliamentary elections. take a listen to an excerpt from that interview. >> well, i almost was vindicated when they speak about russian involvement in elections. so they were the same people telling us, no, no, it cannot possibly be true. and now it came to their doorsteps. >> now, alisyn, i'm hearing ukraine, ukraine announcing that it has just recently been targeted by at least ten major cyber attacks including today the infrastructure ministry, and its website, was taken down. now they haven't pointed the finger directly at r

ivan watson, cnn, russia. >> ivan, thank you. and a programming note for our international viewers today. all this week cnn will have special coverage of vladimir putin's russia from allegedly mettling in the u.s. elections to annexing crimea and it's roll in the syrian conflict. >>> so the election in the united states, it did happen. americans did vote, but officially donald trump has yet to win the presidency. that all changes today, because that is because 538 members of the u.s. electoral college will meet monday in every u.s. state and the district of clum olumbc. trump won the electoral votes even though he lost the popular vote by about 3 million people to hillary clinton. the electoral college vote is typically a formality, a rubber stamp, but this year there's been a drive to get republican electors to change their votes and it's drawing more attention to this process. cnn reports the electors are being targeted with some intense messages. >> reporter: the threats keep coming to christopher from raping his wife and daug

i want to go to ivan watson now. our senior correspondent based in hong kong, actually here in new york tonight. and we're awaiting the chinese response. obviously early in the morning in beijing. >> 8:00 in the morning on a saturday there. so it is a bit early. and it will be very interesting to see the response. at every high level meeting you have between the chinese and u.s. officials the policies on taiwan are reiterated again and again. and the chinese will certainly see this as an infringement of their sovereignty. was a they view taiwan as a renegade province. and do not like any sign that the u.s. could recognize it as a separate state, for instance, by talking to the president of taiwan. >> and this is for them a pretty stunning thing to wake up. barack obama sold them those weapons but when it came to diplomacy he stuck to the policy. this is the violation of that. >> the u.s. doesn't have an embassy in taiwan. it has an american institute of china there. so it doesn't have official diplomatic relations an