the announcement came the same day that moskow warned any foreign weapon shipment into the country woulde a considered a legitimate target for russian forces. for more let's bring in selma abdelaziz joining us here about those attacks intensifying all throughout the country. what are you learning? salma, can you hear me? all right, we're having some audio issues there. there she is. go ahead. talk to us about whoez overnight strikes we heard from our pos position. all right, we're going to move on from salma, we're going to reconnect with her and we'll get to her as soon as we can re-establish contact. i want to bring in a journalist where she covers international affairs, corruption and money laundering and also author of the book "why europe needs a mag nitsky law should the u.n. follow the u.s.." you've been following russian press inside the contre. what is russian opinion on this war inside the country? >> thank you for having me. in fact, it's very difficult to answer this question because there is like two types of i'd say russian people, russians. there are some people and they t

two, they need to prepare for what happens if moskow uses chemical or biological weapons with ukraineere needs to be an alliance response which is agreed beforehand. and three, they need to agree now what they will do if as a warning putin sends a rocket into one of the nato nations especially poland. a senior russian official has been putting out a very sharp anti-polish statement suggesting that moskow may try to test article 5. we need to have a very strong response prepared and agreed beforehand. >> so then what is that then because you mention that. look, president biden is warning that a chemical attack by russia in ukraine is a real threat. if that were to happen, how would it change what the u.s. and nato would be willing to do? >> well, we don't know. my idea would be there has to be a strong nato response to that. that response would be quite overtly sending more advanced weapon systems to ukraine which has been sent before or maybe establishing a humanitarian zone protected by nato forces in the west of ukraine so that internally displaced ukrainians can be safe within ukra

moskow's situation is much different.nn's christian amanpour asked him what the strategic goal in attacking cities like mariupol. >> the goal is to clear up mariupol from regiments for there in a heavily covered environment, and by the way they're simply not letting people out from this, from the town, and this is a problem because now we're receiving lots of refugees coming from there. and they simply tell us they're eyewitnesses. they simply tell us that they were used like a shield. they were used under heavy bombardment, and then those nations they were -- they were killing people who would want to leave the city. >> why do you think they're fleeing west, trying to get out to ukraine and other parts rather than fleeing to russia if they feel so safe with you? why do you think that's happening? >> part of them is going towards, part of them is going westwards. it's the choice of people, and no one is making any obstacles. >> well, among those who fled mariupol is an 18-year-old university student and her parents. she s

. >>> every day life in moskow taking a turn on the fast food front hurt russians, as economic sanctions begin to hit everyone under putin's regime >>> the trial for everyone planning to kid nap governor gretchen whitmer is under way. >>> a couple who tried to get their primi born twins from ukraine. >>> the third week of russia's invasion of ukraine has begun and the assault is growing more brutal by the day. devastating images are emerging from the city of mariupol. mothers carried out on stretchers after an air strike at a children's and mutrpt hospital authorities report at least three people were killed including one child. the mayor says this is the third hospital russian troops have destroyed. >> the biden administration has ruled out the transfer of fighter jets to ukraine. poland had offered to deliver the aircraft to a u.s. air base in germany before they'd be taken to ukraine, but the pentagon rejected that offer calling it a high risk step that would raise serious concerns about pulling the entire nato alliance into that conflict. >> house speaker nancy pelosi had a call with

that's coming up. >>> also countries around the world lashing out at moskow's latest efforts to bullyedia and silence dissent. we'll be right back. to a job that feels like home. with home instead, you too can become a caregiver to older adults. apply today. getting the incredible iphone 13 without t-mobile, makes as much sense - as playing hide-in-seek... - ready or not, here i come. ...in the desert. real guys? mobile has more 5g bars in more places. and now,hen you switch, you can get iphone 13 on us at t-mobile. we're testing the limits of vacation thrills. inversions. zero gravity. velociraptors. (tims) raptors?! woah! (tester) spider-man versus bad guys. let's go. (tims screaming) (tim) awesome! (tester) a dessert (tims screaming) (tester) ontop of a dessert. (tims) oh! nice! (tester) we don't do ordinary thrills. universal orlando. let yourself woah! immerse yourself in the thrills with a hotel and ticket package from $89 per person, per night. restrictions apply. >>> welcome back. the international atomic energy agency says that ukrainian nuclear officials are in contact with

but moskow imposes a cost. these barracks torn in two reduced to rubble by missile strikes that killed dozens of ukrainian soldiers some as they slept friday morning in one of the worst known losses of the war. this trauma unit struggles with some of the 40 injured. one soldier asking for his friends by name. not all injuries involve blood. this soldier was in bed on the third floor when the blast hit, and he found himself on the second with both legs smashed losing consciousness . >> that night the kremlin's blunt force hits another target around mykolaiv. moskow may be losing ground here but does all it can to crush and stifle what it cannot have. nick paten walsh, cnn, ukraine. >> for analysis i'm now joined by lieutenant colonel daniel l. davis. he's a retired u.s. army officer and senior fellow and military expert at the defense priority's think tank. so difficult to really look at military strategy when we see the devastation there among civilians. i mean, let's deal first with this ultimatum apparently t

defense secretary lloyd austin says things cheerily aren't going to plan for moskow. he spoke with our don lemon during a visit to bulgaria on friday. they started by discussing ukraine's demand for more air power. >> the u.s. has made it very clear that they don't want to be involved in the process of giving jets to ukraine. now, do you support other countries doing it or even encourage -- even encourage other countries to do it as long as there's no u.s. involvement? >> don, what other countries do, that's their choice. the united states certainly does not stand in the way of other countries providing assistance. again, we're going to focus on those things that we know is making a difference. and what's making a difference in this fight is the provision of anti-aircraft systems and the deployment of drones. you heard the president say most recently what we're doing, the kinds of things we're providing. we just signed -- just provided authorization for us to provide an additional billion dollars worth of security force assistance. that's remarkable. >> what is your a

keir simmons, nbc news, moskow >>> president biden will deliver his first "state of the union" address tonight. the speech is a chance for a reset and restore faith into his administration mr. biden heads into his address with lower approval ratings than any of his recent predecessors brie, what can we expect tonight? >> reporter: good morning, francis. well, the "state of the union" address is usually an optimistic look forward, but russia's siege on ukraine has forced the president to pivot and with the violent invasion stakes for the prime time address could not be higher. >> this is probably going to be the most important speech we've heard from an american president for the world to see not just the united states but since the end of the cold war. >> the "state of the union" speech is an opportunity for him to pivot, and i hope he does because every decision this president has made over the last year has been to turn to the left instead of turning to public ends across the aisle to form solutions >> foreign policy will form tonight's speech it will also be an opportunity for a pre

making very little progress on the ground with nato's current intelligence assessment suggesting moskowmake much preeg in the foreseeable future. according to the official we see little change which is little comfort to the people in the cities the russian forces are now shelling and bombing especially given the intelligence assessment that vladimir putin is likely to continue escalating the war with no regard for human consequences. cnn's matthew chance is in kyiv tonight. what have you been seeing and hearing there tonight and throughout the last day? >> reporter: well, actually it's been relatively quiet here in the ukrainian capital over the course of the past day or so because there's been a sort of cease-fire that's been holding to some extent to the north of the city, which is where a majority of the fighting has been taking place as russian forces sort of move down in a bid to encircle the city and for the second day in a row there have been many, many people hundreds of people, perhaps thousands flowing out of those northern suburbs to the relative safety of the center of kyiv

ukraine's president says moskow would be better off negotiating and end to the war. >> translator: byng's russia's action our defenders

and he's been in total panic about a so-called color revolution in moskow itself. that's why he's trying to snuff out freedom in ukraine, and that is why it's so vital that he fails. >> mr. johnson was making those comments, in fact, at a conservative party conference. now, before russian forces attacked ukraine, they were bombing syrian population centers like aleppo. years later survivors of the syrian civil war are expressing empathy for the people of ukraine. >> reporter: russia's vicious war in ukraine has shocked the world, but no one should be surprised. for years russia's ruthlessness played out so openly for all to see in syria where countless civilians paid the price for putin propping up his ally. syria and where russia boasted about testing more than 300 types of weapons. it's also where it tested the world's limits, and there seemed today be none. its war has no rules. no one is spared, and no place is safe. russia's bombed hospitals, markets and schools. the u.n. called them war crimes, but no one has faced justice. russia denies its committed these c

born and raised in russia south of moskow.ht years ago. >> i think that he's drunk with power, and i'm not sure what goals he tries to pursue. but i just hope he will wake up one day and look in the mirror and ask himself is he happy with what he's done, and one day the answer will be no and he will step away and he will keep his hands off the people out there. >> reporter: the boardwalk is in brooklyn's brighten beach neighborhood where the elevated train noisily rumbles over businesses that have signs in russian. so many people from the countries of the former soviet union live here, but the neighborhood is also done as the little odesa. moved here about five years ago from russia. you're from russia. what do you think of putin? putin is a killer, she says. this should not have happened. we lived together with ukrainian brothers and sisters. this has to be stopped. inside the grocery store full of russian specialty foods and delicacies we meet michael who moved here about 20 years ago from moskow. >> ukraine and government o

now, the white house quickly clarified that the president was not calling for regime change in moskowre on that and what else came out of that trip in a moment. first, though, even as mr. biden was in poland, russian missiles struck another fuel facility this time in lviv and even closer to our position here. ukraine's president again pleaded with nato for a tiny fraction of its arsenal. >> translator: 1% of all the planes, 1% of all the tanks. that's all we're asking for, just 1%. we do not ask for more, and we've already been waiting 31 days. who runs the u.n. atlantic committee? is it moskow because of intimidation? partners need to step up assistance to ukraine. >> well, mr. biden's speech also pushed back against how russia has tried to frame this war from the get go, really, the u.s. president described it as part of a larger battle between democracies and autocracies and he urged democratic nations to prepare for a long fight ahead on that front. during his visit the u.s. also pledged $100 million in new civilian security assistance to ukraine. phil mattingly has more from wars

you were there a while as moskow wsj bureau chief, right?oe. >> okay. you're it. you are our resource, and it's now suddenly aren't you really glad you did that since you're like the grand poobah, able to talk about this stuff now. >> i was glad i did it for a lot of reasons and guess one of them is to be here now. you've got to be skeptical putin's comments are really nebulous certain comments. i'm looking at the situation here and i can see some reasons why putin might move here. you look at the war is not going well that seems to be the general consensus of the experts out there. you're starting to see and i think one of the most important things is what are average russians being told? there's been some leaks in all that where there's been some reporting on the war, critical reporting on the war on state tv that's one issue there as well obviously the sanctions are out there. and it's not just the sanctions, it's the apeerps right now that china is not cooping with russia there's a report yesterday china is not sending airline parts ther

ambassador in moskow, ambassador sullivan, who's been there the entire time. and i talked to him.o minnesota. he'd actually been to winona where tyler's from for a hockey camp for his daughter. and we had a conversation not just with him. he knew all the details and brought it to the russians along with other matters that i think we were in the news early in this week. and in the middle of allhouse of this horrific war, which you're right in the middle of, don, i want you to stay safe there. i was not too far away on the polish border a few weeks ago, but you were right there. in the middle of all this the state department took the time to find this american, and we're just so grateful for what the ambassador did and what tyler's parents -- i love them. thank you. i cannot wait to meet tyler. i think tina is planning some big reunion with us. it's one moment of joy in a really hard week. >> well, take lots of pictures and share them with us, please. john, i have to ask you when do you expect tyler and his wife and daughter will be home and reunited with the rest of the family? >>

steve liesman in moskow.on his experiences over there he's single. and diana oleck in moskow when fast food was new. you can find squawk pod wherever you listen to podcasts we'll be right back. sion tech from fidelity. [ cellphone vibrates ] you'll get proactive alerts for market events before they happen... and insights on every buy and sell decision. with zero-commission online u.s. stock and etf trades. for smarter trading decisions, get decision tech from fidelity. >>> welcome back to "squawk box. the futures right now, wow, 600 down those are the highest levels of the day for the dow. nasdaq indicated up a strong 331 points, and the s&p rebounding from some recent weakness at put it well into correction territory, up about 83, 82 points this morning. >>> some of the biggest names in technology are down at least 40% so far this year prompting the question is now the time to get in paypal, netflix, meta and zoom are just some of the industry giants feeling the pain. joining us right now is dan niles. he's

unsubstantiated claim about hunter biden receiving a payment from the wife of the former mayor of moskow putin said in 2020 he was unaware of any business ties between biden and the woman. also in 2020 hunter biden's legal team told nbc news that biden had no interest in the firm that received the money, so the claim he had paid $3.5 million was false the white house has not commented. >>> the fda is green lighting a second covid vaccine booster shot for older americans the agency authorized another dose of the pfizer and moderna vaccines for anyone 50 and older four months after their first booster. a booster has also been approved for people immunocompromised >> a recent poll shows attitudes shifting when it comes to mandemic mandates. 34% are now in favor of instituting mask or social distancing guidelines in their state, this down from 52% in january. and 77% says they support the cdc's recent decision to relax recommendations for areas with low covid infection rates. >>> 21 states are suing to end the federal mask mandate on public transportation. all of the attorneys generals invol

so there was a wall street journal report earlier this week that said moskow was now going to recruit foreign fighters from syria skilled in urban combat. reporters asked the pentagon about this yesterday pentagon spokesperson john kirby said there was some, quote, truth to that reporting. we know this as it comes -- excuse me -- as 100% of russian forces are either at the border or in ukraine. >> thank you, molly, thank you so much for the update >> the humanitarian crisis in ukraine gets worse by the hour it's already estimated to have created 1.7 million refugees seeking shelter from the violence our jay gray joins us from poland's border with ukraine and what's it like on the ground there? >> reporter: yeah, steven, we're basically at the cross roads between safety and war you can see people gathered here trying to get a hot meal, others to board a bus but we're right along the walking path, and if you take a look down you can see there's a steady stream of people making the rush to freedom here we now know most all the russian troops and war machines lining the ukraine border are

. >>> the headlines read ukraine pushes russian forces back near kyiv as moskow excels more u.s. diplomats. >>> we'll pause to acknowledge a trailblazing woman who thrived in the arena of foreign policy remembering madeleine albright in her own words >>> pop singer mily cyrus and her midair scare >>> could children under 6 years of age be the next group authorized for covid vaccines "early today" starts right now >> good morning on this thursday i'm cori coffin. >> glad you can be with us we begin this morning with a pivotal summit between president biden and our nato partners and allies in brussels mr. biden landed hours ago for a strategy session on the war in ukraine. brie, good morning what can we expect today >> good morning, frances well, president biden will assert his leadership on a global stage and push for tougher sanctions against russia and over 300 members of russian parliament nato says it's doubling its military presence near ukraine and sending more equipment to help protect against potential use of chemical, biological and nuclear weapons. we also expect to hear

intended to cripple the country's economy are already wreaking havoc nbc's raf sanchez on the ground in moskow. so what's it like there? >> reporter: we are seeing economic life for ordinary people in this country turned upside-down by these sanctions as the value of the ruble, the russian currency collapses prices are just skyrocketing, and that's on everything from car parts to toys to just groceries in the super market. they're looking to get out of the country, but that is not ams international airport, you look at the departures board, you are seeing just a sea of cancellations because north american and european airspace are both closed to russian aircraft right now we are expecting a second round of these peace talks to go ahead in belarus today i'll tell you the ukrainians are not optimistic that this will lead to a break through given that russian forces are besieging multiple cities as negotiators sit down at the table. but president zelenskyy has said he has no other choice but to at least try to enter into talks with the russian side. here in russia a crack down on the independent

as you say along with china might see an incentive here china's got to worry its all access with moskow only ineffective but corrupt and criminal in the eyes of the world. and so i would hope that china would see the incentive that you mention, but putin doesn't listen to anybody very much and probably not even xi jinping on this >> we had helean macroft with us earlier this hour and she was saying the imposed sanctions, forget it, we don't want to do business with russia, that that may have a pretty chilling impact, too, because it means russia can't get $109 a barrel for their oil prices like you get on the general market. it means they're going to have other issues they have to deal with there's that but colonel jack jacobs joining us to say, hey, they're going to be doing this and they don't think the west will have the resolve. >> right >> will we >> yeah. i think we have the resolve to apply the punishment but the question is in putin's mind is will we keep that punishment ongoing? let's say in a month russian forces have finally worn down ukrainian resistance, they essentially co

. >>> breaking news from exxon mobile, yet another company stepping away from its operations in moskowhalf of international consortium of japanese, indian and russian companies. they say in response to recent events in ukraine they are beginning the process to discontinue operations and developing steps to exit in one venture. they also say they'll be making no new investments in russia the stock up by about 1.3%, but the company also detailing plans to go ahead with earnings and cash flow and energy transition. this is its annual investor day release they're putting out at this point they say they're going to be focused on cash flow growth. maybe the key here is the company plans to include annual structural reductions $9 billion a year building on $5 billion they've achieved to date additional reductions in that. and they also now label the company to pay down about $20 billion in debt. we'll continue to go through this, but right now that stock up by about 1.5% >> in keeping with this thought, oil prices are spiking again after members of the international energy agency agreed to re

blinken said the war in ukraine may not be over soon so the two sides should keep up the pressure on moskow. he she said the eu is ready. >> we know this conflict is far from over, and be very clear we are ready to take further severe measures if putin does not stop and reverse the war he has unleashed. >> so for more on that and the consequences of the sanctions on the global economy we're joined by natasha bertram from brussels and elainy giokos is standing by. putin's plans to, quote, bombard cities into submission are dire, ominous. what more are we learning? >> reporter: telling me yesterday that the idea that the u.s. and nato have is that russia is going to increase its bombardment of cities over the coming days and weeks. and this comes as russia has had a lot of difficulties seizing the cities in ukraine it has tried to get over the last couple of weeks including kyiv. they've had major issues, major stalled convoys getting into that city and now they're trying to do an all out bombardment. and they're going to bow sending according to a u.s. official up to 1,000 mercenaries into u

. >> reporter: griner was arrested at a moskow airport with what russian authorities said was cannabisher lugger. they accused griner of smuggling narcotics, punishable by up to ten years in prison. members of congress and veteran diplomats are worried the two time olympic star could work against her as could her sexual orientation. griner is gay and married. russia has very strict lgbtq laws. >> what i would expect the russians to do is use the fact her wife is making public statements and these are being reported in media and social media as propagandization of lgbtq plus rights which could be another crime they could hold against her. >> reporter: the parents of another detained american describes themselves as panicked in his condition. reed's parent say his physical condition has taken a turn for the worse. >> he's coughing up blood throughout the day, he has fever off and on over 100 degrees, and he has pain in his chest, just all the signs of tuberculosis. >> reporter: in a new statement reed's parent say he was told he'd be sent to a prison hospital, but when they were on the p

since it started ukraine has fired about 600 missiles according to an official who says moskow has about 90% of its combat power inside ukraine. president volodymyr zelenskyy says the sanctions rcaren't enough. >> translator: it seems it is not enough for the russian troops, not enough ruined destinies, crippled lives. they want to kill more. for tomorrow russia is officially announced an attack on our territory, on defense facilities. most of them were built decades ago under a soviet government. they were built in cities, and now they are in the urban setting where dozens of people work and hundreds of thousands live nearby. this is murder, deliberate murder. >> so u.s. officials say there are, in fact, urgent discussions under way with allies as ukraine pleads for more help. now, secretary of state antony blinken says the u.s. is in talks with poland about the possibility of sending fighter jets to ukraine. >> we are working with poland as we speak to see if we can back fill anything that they provide to ukraine. we support them. providing planes the ukrainians can fly. >> and we go l

it looks like everyone is guarded from moskow, which doesn't make any sense militarily speaking, and maybe it explains why there's so much confusion and lack of communication between the units and all this heavy casualties. >> thank you so much. really appreciate you joining us. be well. >>> the city of mariupol being battered by russian attacks, up to 100 a day. next we're going to talk to an american and his ukrainian wife. her family is sheltering in a basement in mariupol. i've always focused on my career. but when we found out our son had autism, his future becamame my focus. lavender baths always calmed him. so we turned bath time into a business. ♪ and building it with my son has been my dream job. ♪ at northwestern mutual, our version of financial planning helps you live your dreams today. find a northwestern mutual advisor at nm.com >>> rescue efforts under way at the bombed out theater in mariupol that was being used as a shelter. sources saying they were about 1,200 people sheltering in the theater. there are reports of 130 that have been rescued so far. and in mariupol ci

i've seen those multiple times in moskow and in europe when working with russian troops.nco cord to discipline them. they don't get enough training repetition in their one or two-year conscription grid and don't adjust to mission-type orders. so they get on the road as i said so many times before nose to butt in their vehicles and they just keep rolling. you add to that -- let's add one more thing to all that. these troops have been under harsh conditions in ukraine for two weeks now in combat with an enemy going after them, and, oh, by the way, they started several months ago in belarus in horrible field conditions with bad food, a bad resupply and that indiscipline from the commanders. so i could go on and on about what i've observed in the russian force both at the general officer level and at the soldier level. but i've been saying from the beginning this is going to be a slog for the russians. >> so the ukrainian air forces are still reportedly able to fly. i'm not sure how many, you know, jets they still have. u.s. intelligence said today that nearly the entire airs

use chemical >> meantime, president putin meant with the belarusian president lukashenko today in moskow he appeared to open the diplomatic door saying there were some positive shifts in the talks with ukraine unclear what he meant by that.e reas putin criticized the west, saying they encouraged the use of mercenaries, saying he sees no reason why russia shouldn't either we'll get to cnbc's kayla tausche. get analysis from national security analyst clint watts of russia's military movement but first nbc's cal perry reporting live from lviv cal? >> reporter: shep, it was unnerving this morning as that air strike hit close to the city i'm in just about 60 miles from where i am, and less than 60 from the polish border that airfield in lutsk, this is the first time we've seen strikes in this city since the first time of the war. fierce fighting along the black sea, in the black sea city, as you said mariupol under a state of siege more than a week we have an updated death toll at least 1,500 civilians now confirmed dead there, though the fear is that number will be far higher president zelen

. >> you were moskow bureau chief for "the wall street journal" there. tell you about the possibility of any of this >> ittells me the russian people will endure enormous amounts of pain, and they have very little means of demanding any accountability from their government it's very hard for us to understand you know, we have this 7% inflation. we're all screening, demanding change the government's responding. you know, in one way or another, maybe not the way everybody would like obviously, but the government feels this requirement to respond to its people putin can simply ignore this there are power centers in russia it sounded like the russian orthodox head church leader came out in favor of this ukraine invasion that's an important power center in russia. it's going to be important the military, though, they seem to generally follow what the leadership is doing. the change does not come from them the only thing i can think of, there's an elite group of russians but there's a middle class there that have enjoyed travel abroad, that have enjoyed their

the moskow exchange resumed trading in 33 russian equities some of the big names there.investors are prohibited from selling stocks or government bonds until april 1st. yep, april 1st the moax russia index jumped sharply after it happened and lifted sharply higher by russian oil companies. much more on the russia-ukraine gas oil prices in just a bit with senator dan sullivan. it's alaska day here on "squawk box. we'll be right back. for investors who can navigate this landscape, leveraging gold, a strategic and sustainable asset... the path is gilded with the potential for rich returns. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ with a bit more thought we can all do our part to keep plastic out of the ocean. >>> welcome back to "squawk box. this morning tech stocks have staged a serious come back in the last cup of weeks, down a bit the last day overall amazon, tesla and apple up significantly from their lows earlier this month joining us to talk more about this rebound in tech, famed tech investor co-founder and chairman of prime time partners and chairman emeritus. good morning to you, alan. >> better i

but global economic sanctions have raised questions on whether moskow will be able to do so setting up 100 years. leslie, i heard a joke the other day and i i've got to say it do you know the difference between a ruble and a dollar is? >> what? >> a dollar. >> or 100, 150 rubles, wherever it's at. we're monitoring this closely as it could be indicative of the nation's first default on external bonds since the take over back in 1917. this is less of a story about russia's economic ability to pay. as you mentioned the country has about half as much debt as general motors and was rated investment grade as recently as last month due to its large reserves and flowing oil but sanctions froze its dollars and other technicalities are likely to prevent the kremlin from servicing its debt as required under its contracts baying in rubles would still constitute a default >> default is usually about the willingness of someone to pay. certainly in the case of russia they're indicating a willingness to pay but a lack of capacity or capability and that capability september necessarily because they don

tomorrow, and that's the first time for the first time since the ukraine invasion as 33 companies in the moskowwe are going to now have -- i don't know how much of a debate president biden is getting ready to head to europe for talks on russia's war with ukraine. and "the wall street journal" talking this morning about the white house prepping for sanctions on more than 300 members of russia's lower house of parliament. >> you're being very thoughtful. you're being very thoughtful about reading this because the prompter's stuck it wasn't moving so i understand >> what we're going to do now though is talk about what the administration can or cannot do about all this let's get heidi heitkamp on the line here. i know she's going to be joining us in just a bit good morning to both of you. it's great to see you. let's talk about what you think really needs to happen here in terms of to the extent you think the u.s. government has an opportunity to squeeze -- do we have leverage? what leverage do we have >> i'm going to go to the ambassador first if i could. >> of course this is a chance for the pres