will anyone be able to stop putin? melinda: the same commentator who called aleppo another sarajevo said the current debacle could offset all that it rings -- good things historians would write about president barack obama. was again, there are calls for the u.s. to take action, most recently from the french foreign minister. but what action could feasibly stop the bombing without drawing the u.s. into a proxy war? kristin: you have to take a risk, it is not about without risk. you have to make a no-fly zone between aleppo and the turkish border, and in the south of the corridor -- country where we have a second tragedy. assad is approaching, and tens of thousands are going towards jordan, which is at the brink of collapse in. we need a no-fly zone or no bombings in. we need to come to times cash -- terms with russia. wherenot bomb other areas possible partners for political process are controlling the area. the same rebel leaders that were geneva, theye in were being bombed at the same time by russia. you cannot have

putin is reacting to that. he's got a tremendous, or significant military buildup and now we're reacting to that. my view is, i am not against frankly our next president trying to a real reset, and we get away from this faceoff, and any kind of war between the united states and russia, would be the end of estonia and a disaster every great president of the cold war avoided. of nato happened under bill clinton and was approved of by his successors, including republican president george w. bush, so this is not a policy that barack obama -- no, no, when obama took office he dealt well with putin's predecessor and we had a few good years. and putin came in flexing his muscles. you think obama should sit back and say that's fine with us? the baltic nations are nervous about all the needling by putin who is trying to comment for -- >> germans will be sending troops in there, too? >> i don't think we want germany beefing up their military. >> [inaudible] >> yes, yes, we have strategic interest there. >> in estonia? >>

ryan: he's doing what putin wants.ecause putin is weak at home and that's why he's pushing abroad at the moment. whenever a strong guy is looking weak he needs to find some enemies he can push around to try to rally his county behind him. putting all these military resources against him allows him to prom himself up. pat: people love him standing up to the united states because they think we double crossed them at the end of the cold war. eleanor: somewhere out there mitt romney is doing a high-five because the u.n. just put russia as the top military threat to the united states. pat: why are they a threat to the united states? tom: because of their undercutting of democratic values, because they support the slaughter of innocent people. pat: what do you think our egyptian allies are doing right now? tom: i agree with that. it's not a by nary thing, you go one or the other. pat: three powers -- the greatest vital interest is the united states and china and russia avoid some kind of mess like the germans and the brits g

putin, called a bromance.hat was covered in russia widely. but in other cases not so much. there is no politics in russia. >> is that pretty much the same in western europe. >> no, no, western europe pays a lot of attention. about scratching our heads. we were in demoyne, inside a few caucuses, and i have there with other reporters that covered wars. third world countries and men said if an election was so chaotic like an iowa caucus in any other country of the world, we westerners would say it's not a democracy. >> it's not a fair election. >> yes. >> going back to the intention and trump and clinton, what they are bringing, all your two newspapers and website covered the election, the caucuses in iowa, do israelis care? >> they care a lot. it's a deep relationship. they are emotional in the attitude towards the united states. and in the last elections they are more invested. there's a lot of strong feelings about president obama, probably negative mostly. so they are taking an active interest. it's an existe

speaking of putin, we need to let him know we will never acquiese to his position on crimea. any talk of sanctions relief for russia is premature, so long as ukraine doesn't control its own eastern border. we must do more to counter russian propaganda, we feel very strong about the fact that people in the russian language sometimes only hear on the air what putin wants them to hear. they get a very unbalanced view.

we have the impression that he is 100% loyal to putin. everyone who raises questions here is considered a personal enemy. brent: would you say we are not just talking about him wanting someone to be murdered -- she's maybe following orders from the kremlin. is that clear in your mind? guest: that is quite clear. i would say so. he is sort of on the forefront and always pushes a little further than the official kremlin policy can. you see this in his role in interior politics and exterior politics. one thing a colleague has discovered is 30,000 fighters in chechnya, they are the best trained men in all of russian territory. brent: what do you buy about what we are hearing about ukraine and now syria's that this model is now being taken to syria by putin. does that make sense to you? guest: the thing is we really fear for this to happen. it's a horrible scenario for syria. chechnya itself is a silent graveyard. there is no parliament, there is no press, nothing which we consider a democracy. brent: as always, thank you for coming in and tal

i went to the kremlin, i saw vladimir putin, he was very kind. he loved talking about his friend berlusconi. americans have a hard time understanding this italian billionaire prime minister because he has such a concentration of power and is so controversial andso many sex scandals that it's hard to imagine the american equivalent . >> was berlusconi indicative of their politics? >> i would say berlusconi is the most controversial politician in europe in the last 50 years. there are honest and good politicians in italy. it's not all like berlusconi. berlusconi is typical of no one. he's unique. this is a guy who could look at barack obama and go on national televisionand say , obama, he is young, he's handsome and he has a year round tag and when i sent you berlusconi that's racist he says no, it was a compliment. i would take two or three months to get a can like that so berlusconi lives in his own bubble. he's a very colorful, controversial figure. >> how did he stay in power in italy? >> he marketed himself like coca-cola or marlboro and uses

and the syrian president has vladimir putin to thank for it. in september the russian leader deployed his fighter jets into syria's war and now months of russian air strikes coordinated with syrian government ground offenses are starting to pay off. rebel supply lines to turkey and jordan are being cut and if the government momentum continues world powers will be left with two stark choices in syria: bashar al-assad or i.s.i.l. that's why john kerry and others have now changed their tune about the need for assad to go. making it easier for the syrian president and his russian ally to entertain this cessation of hostilities on their terms. for more on this let's go to jamie mcintire. >> reporter: russian war planes continue to pound targets in syria just hours after the munich agreement was announced. in the northern province of homs more than a dozen people were reportedly killed as russia continue to provide air cover for forces loyal to syrian president bashar al-assad. under the agreement hashed out between russian form minister sphrofsergey

they have so many obligations in so many different areas and the people love putin, they show putin's polls say and but at some point, there's got to be some dissatisfaction. i hope and pray not by attacking the baltic states, but it could well be that and if i were in lithuania or estonia, i'd be nevis right now. zpl we see that in north korea. nothing distracts like military engagement. >> two things. there was a report out last week that nato cannot protect the baltic states. to ben's, what is happening. the siege of aleppo, it's carpet bombing, it's devastating, all russia. assad is retaking property land, whatever. throngs. hundreds of thousands of people fleeing. he's already playing this out. unfortunately, the world's not looking or ignoring it on goes what he'll do next. i agree with the great american ben stein. it has to be watched going forward. >> do you think, hear all this, and we have seen leaders who do this, who are distressed, just distract them with a raid or invasion, something to get their minds off. >> let me tell you about my friend vladimir putin. he's fightin

by vladimir putin to help quell nearly a decade of separatist fighting. those that hope the kremlin may be tiring of the unruly former warlord were disappointed. vladimir putin praised him as within effective worker. . >> south korea's pilots are taking flight, with many leaving the biggest airlines for better pay in china and elsewhere. as harry fawcett reports from seoul. those left are threatening to go on strict. >> the korean flight center is busy, training new pilots. inside the cockpit of a replica 747. this crew practices a landing. it's a prestigious job. with the nation's flag carrier. so why are many leaving the company and the county? >> this is the captain. evacuation. >> reporter: the first reason is that korean airline system cannot provide hope for the pilots, and there's a huge gap in salary compared to neighbouring countries, especially china. >> reporter: last year 122 left, more than 7 times than the year before. a third went to join the aviation boom in china for double or triple the pay. trade leaders demand a 37% pay rise. rise kore

secretary kerry is relying on the decency and goodwill of mr putin. i'm not sure that mr putin has a plethora of that >>> do you have a sense that involved? >> i think americans are concerned about i.s.i.s. and i think there is a sense in this country too that the administration policy against i.s.i.s. is not working. i think if - syria experts know to get rid of them you have to get of bashar al-assad. so long as there's a system in this country, bombing people, this will continue to be fertile ground for extremism. you will not be able to addressisise effectively unless you address authoritarianism. i think they will demand or request of future administrations to have more robust policies to syria it's inside story. >> hunted to the brink of extinction. >> we need an urgent method that stops the killing. >> now fighting back with a revolutionary new science. >> this radiocarbon dating method can tell us if trade of ivory is legal. >> it could save a species. >> i feel like we're making an impact. >> techknows team of experts show you how the miracle

but he is very definitely putin's man who has kept chechnya under some sort of control.y odd relationship. >> it's a very odd relationship and some would say that he's an ali who has been very useful to putin. within chechnya in terms of quashing the insurgency and which you look at the assassination of boris nemtsov sauce spongeses have fallen on him would that suggest that this is someone who has been -- who is off the kremlin leash or or was this carried out with kremlin consents. >> no one ever signs a piece of paper saying this is me. so it's all speculative. >> it's something they would have been aware off i suppose. >> well, someone must have been aware of it. the assassination of nemtsov because it was so close to the kremlin that is a very close area. policed area, there must have been somebody who know what was in prospect and it's certainly been covered up. so you can draw what conclusions you like from that. it may be that president putin had nothing do with it or k adyrov but we'll never know for sure, it's reasonable to link those dots together. >> you knew

secretary kerry is relying on the decency and goodwill of mr putin. i'm not sure that mr putin has a plethora of that >>> do you have a sense that involved? >> i think americans are concerned about i.s.i.s. and i think there is a sense in this country too that the administration policy against i.s.i.s. is not working. i think if - syria experts know to get rid of them you have to get of bashar al-assad. so long as there's a system in this country, bombing people, this will continue to be fertile ground for extremism. you will not be able to addressisise effectively unless you address authoritarianism. i think they will demand or request of future administrations to have more robust policies to syria it's inside story. >> are miners across this region affected by the dodd-frank law? >> sourced from illegal mines. >> this is a serious problem. >> an undercover investigation reveals the real cost. >> there's no way of knowing what minerals are coming in. >> "faultlines". >> what do we want? >> al jazeera america's hard-hitting... >> today they will be ar

vladimir putin is a brutal authoritarian leader and dangerous american adversary.e honest about vladimir putin. he's the majordomo of power politics today. he is a man who follows a simple principle of power politics that the united states followed for decades and no longer does, he is no better friend, no worse enemy and supports allies like bashar assad in syria, and went into syria and used force to support the assad regime when it looked like it was going to crumble and he's winning. and the united states has little leverage. our enemies don't trust us. we are no better enemy, no worse friend right now. lou: and this country, under president obama, seems like it's irretrievable, to replace what we have lost in terms of military capability and capacity is going to take years, would you not agree? the ability to create, restore relationships with allies, whether it be nato, whether it be in asia, whether europe, it's going to take years, is it not? >> well, i agree with you, president obama has done considerable damage to national security. we are not respected a

that's what putin needs.t forget the soviet union will have harry truman, in the late 40s, who just took a very strong stand against joseph stalin, not putin and reagan in principle. you need strategy, you need a vision, and you have to understand that moral values that create the foundation for the victory against totalitarian forces and dictators. neil: well, you're a chess player, i'm a chess player, we're like joined at the hip. don't you think part of chess is not moral, part of succeeding is outstrategizing the other guy. you were the world's best at it. that might be what we need, someone who can outstrategize the next guy? >> in chess, you know, you know exactly what your opponent has. it's 100% transparent game. you know exactly what kind of resources could be used against you. dictators hate chess because they're very good tacticians, they can be spontaneous, they don't have the burden of the parliament or the press. neil: i've seen you where it looks like the opponent has all the piece us and don't

i think by the end of the year, putin will succeed.ll be a difficult situation for europe and the u.s. >> we've seen assad making so much ground over the last several months, certainly with regards to aleppo. i don't think you're wrong. >> if the u.s. and other western powers f they see assad's hand changing in syria and they now realize through the mess of the last five years that, okay, well, maybe it's not such a bad idea to back assad, you have to choose -- >> you have to remember, this is an election year. barack obama, if he's done anything, has made it very clear we're not going to put boots on the ground, at least on this watch. so his watch is coming to an end. i wouldn't anticipate any big changes before november. >> with washington, they're obviously looking at what a role putin is playing here. this must come of some concern to them. >> certainly. we've seen this as an ongoing story, haven't we. they really haven't done much to change that narrative. >> well, i think president obama was very clear that he doesn't necessaril

after that, putin spoke to the saudi arabian king, also to rouhani and to benjamin netanyahu. you duet a real sense of cautious optimism coming out of the kremlin right now. i think they believe they are on the cusp of achieving two of their main goals. the first one was of course shore up president bashar al-assad, prevent him from some sort of chaotic collapse. but the second goal was to convince the united states that russia is essentially an equal partner and needs to be treated with due respect in the middle east. >> rory challands reporting from moscow. president obama says he does not want to set high expectations for truce. the president met with jordan's king abdalla in the white house today. >> if over the next several weeks we can see some lessening of the violence that's been racking that country, then that prides us a basis to build a longer term ceasefire both in the north and the south and allows us to move forward open the political transition that ultimately is going to be necessary to bring an end to the civil war in syria. it also would allow us then to focu

game, set and match, victory to putin.hat about the folks who say hey, no big deal, let russia kill everybody as long as we are not involved. >> it is a big deal because it clearly shows the position, the strength or lack thereof of our current government. that's really what it shows. and i don't think anything is going to change, charles, until president obama, who's looked at as a very weak president when it comes to the issues is out of office. i'm not sure if the general would agree with that. >> i agree completely, rod. >> we have to have a strong commander in chief. charles: keep it there, appreciate your time and appreciate when you watch the show. now lou dobbs himself next. lou: good evening, everybody, i'm lou dobbs. it's election year, and we have ourselves a barn burner as they say in texas. presidential candidates are calling each other names. one's barking like a dog. another cussing like a sailor as the saying goes, though the practice does go well beyond the navy and one would be president going to court to

vladimir putin has an occupation in crimea. and his own domestic constituents.e needs more revenues. that's a big driver. >> sanctions that hurt the economy and oil prices is a double whammy. what do you think of the likelihood of the deal going forward. as we just reported, the only way this works is it everyone else is on board. and azerbayarn says no. and iran doesn't want to freeze oil production, it wants to increase. >> the deal clearly is not one acceptable to iran or iraq. i think that my read on it is the first step to see if consensus can be built. we have the first two producers aligned. and now the question is can others come in and participate. i think my sense is that the saudis are waiting for the iranians to make a move that indicates that they are going to be more constructive generally in the region. it's not really an oil matter. >> it's a geopolitical thing. >> yes. >> you wrote about iran and iraq. that they are the main culprits behind the glut. if they don't agree, that will happen. . >> u.s. shale hat not been the cause for almost a year.

we have putin. we have the chinese.have wars that we're in that we are by the way we're going to build up the military and knock out isis. [ cheers ] we're going to knock out isis fast. remember the great days. general george patton. general douglas macarthur. do you think they would even be thinking about isis? by the time they pick up the telephone, it's over. what is wrong? you know, we don't win anymore and we're getting to that. i have to finish with this clown over here. so i watch this and i thought something bad was going to happen to him. he got through it, but barely. i was almost going to go over and hold him up. now, think of this, think of this. so we have putin and putin's going to meet our president and let's assume it's marco. [ crowd booing ] let's assume it's marco. now, i agree with you, we don't want him, boo boo. and putin's sitting there waiting for a kill. and he knows all about marco because when they put marco on to refute president obama's speech, do you remember that catastrophe? and he's like

this is not a contest between me and putin. the question is how can we stop the suffering, stabilize the region, stop this massive migration of refugees who are having such a terrible time, end the violence. stop the bombing of schools and hospitals and innocent civilians. stop creating a safe haven for isis, and there is nothing that has happened over the last several weeks that points to those issues being solved. that is what i mean by a quagmire. now he may think that he's investing in a permanent occupation in syria. that's going to be costly. that's going to be a big piece of business. if you look at the state of the russian economy it's probably not the best thing for russia. what would be smarter would be for russia to work with the united states and other parties in the international community to try to broker some sort of political transition. john kerry is working with his russian counterpart as on paper said there is going to be a cessation of hostilities in a few days. this will test whether or not that's possible.

have you respond to critics who say the you've been outfoxed like putin. what is your plan if aleppo does fall. do plan to step up military actions. you said of the key to taking on isis. if you look back at the russia has been propping up beside this entire time. that putin finally had to send his own troops and his invest this massive military operation was not a strengths isgreat a testament to the weakness of the sun's position. if somebody is strong you have to send in an army to prop up your ally. they have legitimacy in their country and they can manage the cells. army when theur horse you are backing is not effective. that is sacrilegious happened. i said it would involve itself in a quagmire. absolutely well. if anybody thinks that somehow the fighting ends because russia and the mid-regime has made some initial advances. about three quarters of the country is still under the control of people other than aside. that is not stopping anytime soon. pleasure thish no is not a contest between the how do we stop the suffering and stabilize the region. t

white house press call was made on putin's request. he said putin about nationwide cessation of hostilities armed opposition and the syrian regime and its the proposed truce does not include terror groups currently such as isis. jenna: the wife of bill cosby will answer questions today (monday) related to the sexual assault case against her husband. camille cosby was deposed by attorneys for the eight women who have sued her for defamation. this is video or her attorney's arriving to court. one of the women-- tamara green-- filed the defamation lawsuit against cosby in december 2014. she accused cosby of sexually assaulting her in 1970. green along with the others claim that cosby's husband let his defense team paint them as liars after they accused him of sexual assault. bill cosby's lawyers tried to prevent camille from bng deposed... but sunday night the judge denied their sunday night the judge denied their motion. tim: the fbi is defending its demand that apple help them open the iphone belonging to the san bernardino shooter. fbi

this is not a contest between me and putin. the question is how can we stop the suffering, stabilize the region, stop this massive out migration of refugees who are having such a terrible time, tend violence, stop the bombing of schools and hospitals, and innocent civilians. stop creating a safe haven for isis. and there is nothing that has happened over the last several weeks that points to those issues being solved. that's what i mean by a quagmire. now, putin may think that he is prepared to invest in a permanent occupation of syria with russian military. that will be pretty costly. that will be a big piece of business. if you look at the state of the russian economy, that's probably not the best thing for russia. what would be smarter would be for russia to work with the united states and other parties in the international community to try to broker some sort of political transition. now, john kerry, working with his russian counter part, has on paper said that there will be a cessation of hostilities in a few days. this wi

putin is not interested in being our partner. he wants to establish russia as a major power in the middle east. he wants to exacerbate the refugee crisis and use it as a weapon. >> mccain predicted that a ceasefire brokered by secretary of state john kerry is likely to fail. talking to putin with the ceasefire plan and the bigger picture. the two leaders spoke about the involvement in the country. the white house says obama urged putin to focus on extremists and blockades be removed. moving towards mosul the threat of an i.s.i.l. attack is a constant in oil rich regions like tikrit. suicide bombings are common there. imran khan reports from baghdad. >> in april, to much fanfare, predominantly shia militias announced they had retain tikrit. today just outside that city, there is the scene. i.s.i.l. which still controls the country side mounts attacks on the oil fields there. the battle over tikrit is crucial in advance towards mosul, the second largest city controlled by i.s.i.l. tikrit is an important hub because it's on the main

putin. putin cease-fire to him is a tactic even a smokescreen. not a goal. the economist says, the only puzzle is what john kerry, america's discriminate -- secretary of state, thought he could achieve. after decimating opponents of the assad regime with its bombing, russia has made a joint statement with the u.s. that it will agree to a cessation of hostilities february 27. to me the only thing russia has been consistent with is failing to keep its word. what consequences, specifically what consequences do you support imposing upon russia if it violates the cease-fire agreement and it is just a smokescreen or some kind of charade? secretary kerry: well, in answer to the question, what does john kerry think he could achieve, -- senator barrasso: and the consequences for russia. secretary kerry: my job and everybody in the state department -- war is the ab-- absence, failure of diplomacy. our job is to see if there is a way to bring this to an end. i can't -- i'm not sitting here naively vouching for the fact that this is going to work. but the alternative is

it's a great victory for putin.s campaign, with 40 airplanes, 800 russian troops. he's achieved every single strategic objective in the middle east that he set out for himself on the cheap. assad will be in power for a generation. russia has a permanent base inside assad's secure area. assad has surrounded aleppo and even though humanitarian aid will begin to come to aleppo, who's got their hand on the spigot, assad and aleppo? no. this is a huge victory for iran, russia and hezbollah. the syrian resistance is left out. kerry didn't even consult him before he penned this deal with russia. no, this is a huge strategic victory for vladimir putin, and as ralph said earlier, it makes us look weak and shameful in the middle east. lou: and saudi arabia, the united arab emirates sending special operations forces into syria. do you think they'll back off of that? >> no, no, no. i certainly know the saudi military very well. no, we groomed both of these militaries for internal defense. their special operating forces are main

so we have putin. and putin is going to meet our president, and let's assume it's marco.th you. we don't want him, boo, boo. and putin is sitting there waiting for a kill. and he knows all about marco because when they put marco on to refute president obama's speech, do you remember that catastrophe? and he's like this. and we were -- ah, i need water. help. and he's -- this is on live television. this total choke artist is refuting -- and you know, you know about sports. do i love sports. we love sports. we're athletes. so you notice in sports almost always true, when you are a choke artist, you are always a choke artist. it doesn't really change. sadly the guy that misses the kick and the coach says i'm going to give him another chance. unfortunately, the following year, he misses the kick again. so choke artists they choke, they choke. what's going to happen is we look at this and he goes in to see putin and he walks in and he's soaking wet. and putin looks at him and goes, what's wrong with this guy? this is going to be easy pickings. and believe me it will be. it's r

they have so many obligations in so many different areas and the people love putin, they show putin'st at some point, there's got to be some dissatisfaction. i hope and pray not by attacking the baltic states, but it could well be that and if i were in lithuania or estonia, i'd be nevis right now. zpl we see that in north korea. nothing distracts like military engagement. >> two things. there was a report out last week that nato cannot protect the baltic states. to ben's, what is happening. the siege of aleppo, it's carpet bombing, it's devastating, all russia. assad is retaking property land, whatever. throngs. hundreds of thousands of people fleeing. he's already playing this out. unfortunately, the world's not looking or ignoring it on goes what he'll do next. i agree with the great american ben stein. it has to be watched going forward. >> do you think, hear all this, and we have seen leaders who do this, who are distressed, just distract them with a raid or invasion, something to get their minds off. >> let me tell you about my friend vladimir putin. he's fighting a two front war

vladimir putin and the russian media - it's personal >>> and why can't a country run for office in another country. after countless hours of air him, acres of mus print, multiple pundit ris and polls, the u.s. election entered a new votes were cast in iar, and those seeking the nomination for white house. it was a bad night for donald trump, convention am wisdom and the notion that media exposure amounts to what can be cashed in on at the ballot b. ben carson finished behind victor cruz. and bernie sanders, ended in a photo finish alongside hillary clinton, a favourite for the nomination. it's early, iowa is usually an indicate are of who cannot win than can't. this much we know - there's a cap between the candidate people cover and those people vote for. our starting point is the first stop on the road to the white house - [ ♪ ] >>> politicians are advised to be gracious. win or loads. bernie sanders was still in a virtual tie with hillary clinton on caucus night when he was less than diplomatic, and only for a moment when talking about an election process that has revealed as much about

they maintained that that is the case. >> along with that conversation that vladimir putin had, it seems that he's spoken with the saudi king on the syrian ceasefire. what do we know about that? >> yes, well that is true. there has been - i think a number of international phone calls over the last few hours or so. and the kremlin saying there are more, and we don't know much about what was discussed with the saudi king, other than talking about syria, and the syrian king has said that he is on board with the u.s.-russian plan for a ceasefire. >> thank you for the update from moscow. >> the syrian observatory for human rights says quarter of a million have been killed. with worst fighting in and around aleppo. there's reports about the volunteers who are saving lives there. bernard smith has the story. >> reporter: for many syrians, this is the only emergency services they have. where is it. these are the white helmets, the volunteer rescue workers, like everyone else, they spend a lot of their time to work out where they'll fall. there isn't much of the city still standing. >> translatio

president putin certainly is somebody who probe force weakness. how do you think he's reacting to our actual plan force dramatically withdrawing the only arctic-trained forces in the active duty u.s. military? and do we need to be looking at kind of fon-op, operations in the arctic, particularly given that the russians have such a significant interest in the arctic? they've built up their northern fleet, they have 40 icebreakers and the strategic northwest passage is only going to be become more important. is that something we should be looking at, doing on a regular basis? you can answer, or any or all three of those questions, if you like. >> i can comment from a intelligence perspective that we are turning our attention to the arctic, there's about 6,000-kiloliter-long coastline that the russians have on the arctic. they've established, built around their northern fleet, a joint command to oversee their military activities. they're refurbishing bases there. quantitatively they appear to have, where they're going, would be actually less than wha

obama doesn't worry about vladimir putin because of the economy of russia.ussia is an impoverished nation, they may have a base but they don't have money. is it a stronger fight here in this? >> no. it's mostly talk because the russians are willing to act on a weaker hand whereas the united states has a stronger hand but refuses to act. when the soviet fell in 1991, they could no longer support or defend their client states and their former republics. so a lot of them sensation opportunity jumped onto the nato bandwagon, russia imploded, devalued the ruble, now putin is building it back and looking around and all what used to be his buffer states, which gave him strategic depth r gone and half of them are nato members now. 12 of them are nato members. cheryl: i only have about ten seconds. >> sure. cheryl: but i have to get one quick question in. >> okay. cheryl: about cia director john. he was on 60 minutes. he basically said that the islamic state has chemical weapons. do you agree. >> yes. cheryl: with that and will they try to use those weapons on the u.

putin is brilliant.art of the work for him while he destroys the insurgents we backed. >> japan put it forces on alert as has the united states preparing for what is -- appears to be the launch of a rocket to put a satellite in orbit. it's unclear what the point is. north korea to do that perhaps as early as monday. ways your expectation? >> there is only one key to north korea and that key is china. we are limited in what we can do short of war. they will continue to push the envelope until there is probably a clash with south korea before japan. you can't blame obama fully for this. the on way obama plays into this is if the north koreans know he isn't going to do anything. lou: obamacareys sufficient burden of blame. but there are administration after administration on for so much that alls our foreign policy. always good to see you, thank you, sir. security cameras capturing a tornado's fewery. the ef-1 tornado hit a tennessee school. students were out of class for the day. the tornado packed winds u

putin is not interested in being our partner.wants to shore up the assad regime, he wants to reestablish russia as a major power in the middle east. and he wants to exacerbate the refugee crisis. and use it as a weapon. >> mccain also predicted a syria ceasefire brokered by the secretary of state john kersey likely to fail. >>> meanwhile, president obama has been talking with putin about the ceasefire plan and the bidder picture in syria. the two leaders spoke by phone this weekend about their involvement in the country. the white house says obama urged putin to focus attacks on extremist instead of moderate intent to toppling president assad he also asked that blockades be removed to clear ththe way for humanitarian aid. in yemen five people dead and 10 injured following saudi air strike the strikes tagger tell the historic city 30 miles north of sanaa. generally's state news agency reports rescue workers are still trying to reach people burde bud in debris. saudi arabia leads the fighting. they have targeting youth i rebel posi

this is not a contest between me and putin. how did we stop the suffering, stabilize the region and stop this massive outmigration of refugees who are having such a terrible time, end the violence, stop bombing of schools and hospitals. and innocent civilians and stop creating a safe haven for isis and there's nothing that's happened over the last several weeks that points to those issues being solved, and that is what i mean by a quagmire. now, putin may think that he's prepared to invest in a permanent occupation of syria with russian military. that's going to be pretty costly. that's going to be a big piece of business, and if -- if you look at the state of the russia economy, that's probably not the best thing for russia. what would be smarter would be for russia to work with the united states and other parties in the international community to try to broker some sort of political transition. now, john kerry working with his russian counterpart has on paper said that there's going to be a cessation of hostilities in a few d

putin has agreed on a cessation of hostilities when he did. >> russian airstrikes have no doubt shifted the momentum of this conflict. the syrian army says that moscow's support has helped to push back isis militants. cnn's fred pleitgen was given exclusive access to the front lines against isis and has this report from eastern syria. >> reporter: in the eastern syrian desert, on the fringe of isis's self-declared caliphate, the syrian army readies its artillery canons, tanks and armored personnel carriers have dug in. we are right on the front line with isis. the soldiers here tell us that isis positions are literally only a few miles away from this position. the top commander tells cnn that his forces constantly clash with isis here. he didn't want to appear on camera because of syrian military rules and instead designated a civilian working with him to speak on his behalf. over there is the village, he says, it's considered to be the alternative capital of isis. the syrian military recently launched a major offensive in the north of the country, winning back some territory but also c