>> time will show. >> that was it, "time will show" was what medvedev had to say about that.hen you cover these sorts of summits, you never know what you might run into on the sidelines, even way on the sidelines of a summit like the one we're at right now. >> good for you in spotting him in that hawaiian shirt and asking the question. appreciate it. >> you got it. >>> back here at home, congress is back to work. cue the spitting of coffee all over america. it's true, they are back to work. and even though it's a lame-duck session, they have a big and growing to-do list, it looks like republicans aren't going to wait until they're in charge to make noise. they're challenging the president on a number of key issues, including the climate deal with china. let's bring in chief congressional correspondent dana bash to join us, what's the rub here, dana? >> the rub is that there could not be an issue that shows and illustrates the differences between the two parties more than climate change. i mean, the whole concept of what the president agreed on in china yesterday to reduce u.s

medvedev's ear, tell i will be more flexible. he is flexible. and putin knows that.t nature as an institution. at the enof the day, the credibility of nato depends on the policy of the united states. >> that's right. >> and with obama ruining the credibility of the office, there's so many red lines -- >> i wouldn't let the europeans off the hook that easily. >> no, but america must lead. >> but if you look, putin, assad, the iranians, people have gotten tough with the united states, have not gotten enough pushback recently. right now, they're stronger today than they were two years ago. >> still to come, one thing to watch for in the weeks ahead. [♪] great rates and safety working in harmony. open an optimizer +plus account from synchrony bank. visit myoptimizerplus.com to open an account. service. security. savings. synchrony bank engage with us. >>> and we're back with our panel. ed rollins? what's your one thing to watch. >> i'm going to watch how the president behaved and how he's treated. he just took a big defeat back home. i'm going the watch that closely. >>

medvedev if the united states and russia will ever come into agreement over ukraine? he sidestepped the question saying time will show. >>> signs the white house is questioning its mission and goals in syria. sources tell us president obama asked his national security team to examine the political strategy. new direction could possibly expand the fight against isis to top linked syria's president. some view that as an essential step in defeating the terror group. leeese labott joins us from washington. you broke this story, tell us more. >> carol, this administration until now hasn't really linked a political transition in syria to defeating isis. the administration had hoped to go after isis in iraq first, then take on soeria after they trained a moderate rebel force to go after isis and go after assad's forces later on but officials now saying developments on the ground make that untenable. the opposition is really fighting a two-front battle against isis and the regime forces and could be destroyed by the time the u.s. pivots from iraq back to syria. coalition alli

news to tell you about on the sidelines of these meetings, president obama met with prime minister medvedevrussia. a white house official telling me there wasn't anything major to come out of that meeting, it was brief, however, it does come at a significant time against the backdrop of the escalation of the russian forces into ukraine. president obama could have the opportunity to meet with russia's president vladimir putin at the g-20 summit in brisbane, australia, which will start in just a few days. white house officials say at this point no firm plans for those two leaders to meet. peter. >> all right, kristen welker reporting from myanmar today, kristin, thank you very much. we're continuing to cover the winter whp that's pummeling much of this country. temperatures continuing to drop with some cities seeing as much as a 40 degree drop in just a single day. thermometers in some cities sitting below zero degrees this morning. as you see the shovels at work. it's not just the cold causing havoc. in oregon, high winds brought trees down on a power line, causing significant outages there.

. >>> the russian prime minister medvedev says the u.s. must stop resorting to sanctions against russia and return to normal calm and productive talks. the comment came today after a brief encounter with president obama at the asean summit after new accusations that russia has violated a cease-fire agreement with neighboring ukraine. nato says it has evidence russia is sending tanks, artillery and troops across the border. russia today denied any troops had crossed into ukraine. the rising tensions over ukraine prompting russia to return to some of its cold war tactics in the battle days of the cold war the soviet union for the first time, in fact, since the collapse of the soviet union the russian defense minister announced plans to send long range bombers to patrol get this the gulf of mexico and the caribbean. these flights would be very close to the territorial waters of the united states. let's discuss all of these late-breaking developments bringing in our chief national security correspondent jim sciutto and fa fareed zakaria is sti

point, president obama met on the sidelines of the asean summit with rush's prime minister, dmitri medvedevobama, of course, met with president putin earlier this week when the two were in beijing. they'll have another chance to meet at the g-20 summit in priss ba brisbane, australia. >> nbc's kristin welker traveling with the president in myanmar. adding to the tension over ukraine, russia's defense minister issued the following provocative statement on wednesday. >> in the current situation we have to maintain military presence in the western atlantic and the eastern pacific as well as the caribbean and the gulf of mexico. now, that remark came after a number of high-profile incidents between russia and nato incidents this year including one on june 9th when four nuclear capable bombers flew within 50 miles of the california coast. in fact, a report this week from the european leadership network mapped many of these aggressive counters saying russia is increasingly engaging in dangerous brinksmanship often in areas far removed from ukraine. nina is an associate professor and the great gra

medvedev's ear, tell i will be more flexible. he is flexible. and putin knows that.out nature as an institution. at the enof the day, the credibility of nato depends on the policy of the united states. >> that's right. >> and with obama ruining the credibility of the office, there's so many red lines -- >> i wouldn't let the europeans off the hook that easily. >> no, but america must lead. >> but if you look, putin, assad, the iranians, people have gotten tough with the united states, have not gotten enough pushback recently. right now, they're stronger today than they were two years ago. >> still to come, one thing to watch for in the weeks ahead. how could a luminous protein in jellyfish, impact life expectancy in the u.s., real estate in hong kong, and the optics industry in germany? at t. rowe price, we understand the connections of a complex, global economy. it's just one reason over 70% of our mutual funds beat their 10-year lipper average. t. rowe price. invest with confidence. request a prospectus or summary prospectus with investment information, risks, fees

when i hear you say it i can feel myself knot up thinking about the president's comment to medvedev a back after the election i'll have more flexibility. this then we saw ukraine annexed or parts of ukraine annexed. here we have a situation where the most dangerous enemy we have is iran. and we've watched as north korea has moved continuously towards nuclear capability. they seem to be a bit of a rational regime. that's hard to say. but i'm comparing them to iran. our biggest danger is iran nuclear. and in spite of isis and in spite of syria, that's our biggest danger, we need to contain them. and these back-channel negotiations generally end up being signals of weakness that empower the enemy. while this conflict is going on in that region, it does provide cover for iran to accelerate their nuclear efforts. they're not our partner. they're not our friends, and we don't need them to fight isis. i think that that's a flaw in the president's rationale. i would go further, though, we should arm -- >> say it? >> i should say we should arm the kurds, give them the help weaponry they need,

number of smaller and larger steps because, you know, the last time this came up when president medvedev in 2008 presented his plan for european security, everybody said we don't want another helsinki-type conference, we've had one of those, we don't need it. well, i think now we need something else. so i think that's -- that's not the end of it, that's the bigger agenda item. but in order to get there, obviously, other steps have to be taken including restoring at least, you know, what's left of ukraine easter to have y'all integrity. -- ukraine's territorial integrity. >> i'm going to take the priority of the chair just briefly to drinks agree slightly -- disagree slightly with angela. we created the nato-russia council in the spring of 2002 to bring russia into the heart of nato in brussels. and i know that president bush was serious and secretary colin powell at the time were serious about giving them a stake. let's plan strategically for how to safeguard security in europe, and let's bring you, russia, into some of our peacekeeping missions. and i can say it, because i'm outside of