this was actually a gift to putin. their actions allowed -- allowing the completion of the nord stream 2 pipeline gives russia very powerful means to isolate our democratic partner, ukraine, and it's more of the biden foreign policy doctrine which is appeasement of our foreign adversaries. i consistently urged the biden administration to prevent completion of nord stream 2 and actively support and bolster ukraine's military. the secretary of state's negotiations over the last several weeks -- and it's been pretty clear -- they are designed to de-escalate, but they failed because putin doesn't take this president, they don't take his threats, and they certainly don't take his leadership seriously. they are looking at afghanistan. and did we not learn our lesson with afghanistan? we have 10,000 to 15,000 americans in ukraine. 10,000 to 15,000. and what i haven't heard from this administration is, what are we doing for americans that live in ukraine? again, have we not learned our lessons from afghanistan? president biden

to me, that's a trump-putin pipeline. mr. president, it may be convenient to say that work on the pipeline stopped until biden became president, but that's just not the case. in fact, work stopped on the pipeline for six months -- six months from december of 2019 until the spring of 2020 because a company backed out of the project. but did russia stop? no. it was working fiewrsly to finish the job -- furiously to finish the job by retrofitting ships to complete the pipeline. and the moment the ships were ready, pipeline construction started again. a the retro fitted russian ship showed up in germany in may of 2020, awaiting a permit by danish authorities. the permit was approved in october of 2020. the fact that it received a permit was sanctionable by the then-trump administration. the trump administration failed to act. on december 11 nord stream 2-ag had activities in shallow german waters. they were not waiting for biden to be in office, it was enacting. they should have imposed sanctions under caatsa at that point. it ha

i think putin knows it., as previously said, are going to stand up and join with us. so this is a strong tool, if putin starts a war against his neighbor. >> what is your sense of what actually works? because we have sanctioned russia before. and it did not work. what is different this time around? the president did say last week that maybe we will prevent russian banks from -- or russian government entities from trading in u.s. dollars. what is the thing that is really going to decide to either bring them to the table, or moved their troops off the border? >> the sanctions we put on during the obama administration were moderate. the russians backed off a bit for a time. and now, putin is back with a much more serious threat to ukraine. the first war never ended, but he is threatening to launch. the biden administration has prepared much heavier sanctions than the one that the obama team prepared. i think that would cut off a lot of the russian state banks from the dollar, and that means from the world banki

vladimir putin. it was who in 2005 said that the collapse of the soviet union was the greatest geopolitical catastrophe of the century. is that's an idea that is still resonating through russia. is that a perception of the world that many russians share? because it's right at the core of who vladimir putin is and and why he acts the way he does on the political stage i would suggest, well that's his personal opinion, but to some extent probably, yes, i don't know, we we we have some, you know, um some social um um studies on that, but i don't know if we have to take it at face value anyway. um the vision of of it as a catastrophic. i don't think it's so widely accepted in in this society is by putting itself and certainly not accepted in ukraine and it's right and probably in kazakhstan in in and in many other countries former soviet countries as well. so, so that, i mean it's not going to come easy if if it's not only a bluff and if putin really is considering invading ukraine maybe also only to des

putin doesn't. putin believes that once he brings nord stream ii on line and once he changes the region through invasion that no one will have the will. and i would note when the biden administration first capitulated to russia on nord stream ii the biden administration and the chairman government may have promised. they said if, if, if russia uses energy for energy blackmail then we will stop the pipeline. they were quite bold about it. i've had some members the senate say well we have got really strong promises from germany. what has happened since then? russia has nakedly and unequivocally used energy for blackmail. energy prices have skyrocketed in europe and putin is open late hosting and he is laughing and saying -- he's not hiding it. he's not pretending. he did exactly what the biden white house and the chairman government said. he did it openly laughingly and absolutely nothing happened. zero, crickets. mr. president i ask you as a reasonable man if the chairman government and the biden whi

putin wants to keep the ukraine in russia's orbit. putin is, i think, thinking about his legacy. he wants to be the russian leader who has returned russia to greatness. in order to do that, he needs to reassert his influence over the ukraine, and it is extremely personal. over his 22 years, he has tried repeatedly and failed to increase russian influence in luke crane. i think he is looking to take care of the unfinished business. the same time, one quick point. i think it is about more than ukraine. this is really about pruden wanting to revisit the cold war, rewinding time. he wants to rewrite the rules of the european security architecture, and i think he really wants to instigate u.s. influence in easier. i think he thinks this is his time to push this objective. >> that was going to speak about the recent move of assisting cause extent, and that conflict going there. troops are now in belarus, back from the washington post, saying that the locations of the military sites, and they report that the russian troops and the belarusian troops will conduct joint exercises, of every

putin is not hitler's. , but, putin's foreign policy is dangerous to american interests. in 1938 chamberlain, prime minister of britain said what does checklist of aki a matter to the u.k.? he found out when german troops went to france. host: one of our online followers has a similar question about what russia wants with ukraine. can the gentleman comment on whether to tens endgame -- putin's endgame is to capture ukraine's natural resources to bolster the economy? guest: putin would certainly like the economic bounty ukraine has to offer but putin's objective is geopolitical. he wants to make sure that ukraine remains under moscow's thumb tip or two -- pursue his next steps, putting pressure on the balkan states and other american allies. we do not have to do much to help defeat putin in ukraine. we have to put sanctions on moscow and send military equipment to ukraine and strengthen nato forces. it is better doing that then having to defend baltic allies and american troops after putin takes ukraine. let's be putin now. he is coming -- beat now. he is coming for us aft

putin wants to stabilise the region— putin wants to stabilise the region in— putin wants to stabilise a speech saying i want to— him and made a speech saying i want to go— want to go in to prevent democratic revolutions in ukraine _ democratic revolutions in ukraine. he does not want that sort of— ukraine. he does not want that sort of development. kazakhstan may not — sort of development. kazakhstan may not have been that but he clearly — may not have been that but he clearly presented as way of having _ clearly presented as way of having the autocratic stability of the — having the autocratic stability of the near abroad of russia guaranteed... his of the near abroad of russia guaranteed. . ._ of the near abroad of russia guaranteed... his argument is that it is either _ guaranteed... his argument is that it is either that _ guaranteed... his argument is that it is either that or - that it is either that or chaos. . , that it is either that or chaos. ., , ., that it is either that or chaos-— that it is either that or chaos. ., , ., m chaos. that is what he said. he said there _ chao

putin doesn't. putin believes that once you brings nord stream 2 online, he will -- and once he's changed the region through invasion, that no one will have the will to impose sanctions. and i would note, he's not crazy to believe that. when the biden administration first capitulated to russia on nord stream 2, the biden administration and the german government made a promise, they said, if, if, if russia uses energy for energy blackmail, then we'll stop the pipeline. they beat their chest with that promise. they were quite bold about it. i've had some members of the senate say, well, we've got really strong promises from germany now. what's happened since then? russia has nakedly and unequivocally used energy for energy blackmail. energy prices have skyrocketed in europe, and putin is openly boasting, he is laughing and saying, well, turn nord stream 2 on and your energy prices will go down. he's not hiding it. he's not pretending. he did exactly what the biden white house and the german government

except for putin himself.tainty to this situation. it could go in any way. i do not think we should putin as set on conflict. the russians have shown over the years that they want to see themselves as partners of the west, they want to be recognised by the west, whether they are part of the west or not it is another question, but i do not think that they are set on conflict. what concessions does he want? what concessions? well, putin thinks in 19th century terms. he wants influence. i do not think that he is trying to rebuild the soviet union — i don't think he is trying to do that — but i think he is trying to extend his interests, extend his influence into areas that are immediately bordering russia. if i canjump in. while i fully agree with everything which was said, let me add a bit of pragmatism and sergey has partially mentioned it. when we're talking about putin, we're not only talking about putin talking to foreign leaders, he's also a president of a country and he talks to his population and he needs

putin, australians were murdered.d rebels using russian-supplied equipment. we are very unhappy about this. mark: i mean, up to this point, russian-australian relations had very much been about trade and cultural contact. suddenly, it became much, much more conflictual, and suddenly we had the australian very much pushing for independent investigations for justice to be done, and that made, in a way, australia a problem for the kremlin, and the kremlin's natural response is, when it sees a problem, it makes problems back in return. sean: when protestors condemned putin over mh17 during the 20 g20 meeti in brisbane, australian cossack simeon boikov led a counter rally defending the russian president. sean: four corners has learned australian authorities were monitoring boikov over concerns he may have raised money for separatists in ukraine and may have traveled to the conflict himself. sean: do you deny it? simeon: of course, i deny traveling to ukraine. i haven't been to ukraine since the beginning of the war. i went

putin.ut first, greg palkot is in the ukrainian capital of kiev, amy kellogg in moscow, alexandria hoff in washington with the latest from our nation's capitol. >> reporter: the president has declared if russia further invades ukraine, the u.s. alongside allies and partners are ready to impose consequences. the statement was made this weekend after president biden met with his national security team at camp david to discuss what they call continued russia aggressive action towards ukraine. in geneva, top diplomats once again failed to come to agreement over the brewing crisis. secretary of state anthony d antiincentive blinken said in this today. >> we've given russia two paths, one i engaged in just last weekend in geneva, but there's also a path of renewed aggression and massive consequences that we have been building mow for many weeks. >> reporter: blinken also authorized a shipment of military equipment including javelin anti-armor missiles made here in the u.s. that are now on their wa

with putin there is a bizarre love relationship between putin and certain percentage of our politicos think he is a cool guy, a tough guy. he is a killer. he is a killer who killed his way to the top. he is corrupt. he wants to hold on to power and reestablish the old soviet union, this was defeated during the cold war, why should we defend the ukraine? i don't know. or belgium, italy? france? great britain, they are all the way over there, all the way over there after all, how many wars started in lawrence, kansas? i don't know of any, do you? how many wars? in joplin, missouri? none they can think of. no. the wars are overseas, they have a way of reaching into the united states the fact of the matter is, china, russia, and they are not alone, are building militaries against us. russia is is not building a military against ukraine. they don't need that hardware that technology. those troops just for ukraine. china is not building biggest navy to launch satellites. because of taiwan. they are building them because of us. us the united states of america. do we act as a government? like

vladimir putin. it was who in 2005 said that the collapse of the soviet unioion was the greatet geopolitical catastrophe of the century. is that's an idea that is still resonating through russia. is that a perception of the world that many russians share? because it's right at the core of who vladimir putin is and and why he acts the way he does on the political stage i would suggest, well that's his personal opinion, but to some extent probably, yes, i don't know, we we we have some, you know, um some social um um studies on that, but i don't know if we have to take it at face value anyway. um the vision of of it as a catastrophic. i don't think it's so widely accepted in in this society is by putting itself and certainly not accepted in ukraine and it's right and probably in kazakhstan in in and in many other countries former soviet countries as well. so, so that, i mean it's not going to come easy if if it's not only a bluff and if putin really is considering invading ukraine maybe also only to de

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, they call this putin. nonetheless, few people here would have supposed that such sentiments would manifest themselves at the highest levels of the german military. mhm the german admiral and far away india fired these words like gunshots striking many ukrainians right in the heart. i think putin is probably putting pressure on it because he can do it and he knows that he split it. he split the european union, but what he really wants is respect. we need russia against china the crimea peninsula is gone and never come back. this is it. this is a fact. the ukrainian response was swift with the ukrainian ambassador firing back on twitter, german arrogance and megalomania. the german government has to change its course towards kiev and kiev's major vitali. klitschko even complained that germany had committed treason against ukraine is germany still a trustworthy ally to ukraine. i want to put that question in a moment to jessica, but it's just worthy of note that admiral shinbach actually went even further tha

so i think putin -- i think putin hass. created this crisis. i think biden is handling it as well as we can under these circumstances. and i don't think that sanctioning russia would have a significant effect on our economy, but given -- given what we have done in the world, the cost that we have imposed on our soldiers, our sailors, our marines in afghanistanur and ir, that the american people are unwilling to endure any cost to achieve an international objective i think belies history. >> congressman, we only have a couple minutes left. let me ask you, what other areas in the world as one of the top democrats in the foreign affairs committee, what areas of the world concern you? >> obviously china. both n taiwan, and i do not thi that xi will invade at this time. also, for similar reasons on the ukraine. because the taiwanese would impose great cost on him. i think the economic relationship with china is a very unfair one d in which they are able to use their capricious granting or denying of access to u.s. businesses in order to control our

putin. that is a good thing. he accepted the cyberattack against estonia in 2007 when we had not developed a response strategy for cyber attacks. he has not threatened a nato member state, although he has been in belarus, weaponizing migrants across the border into lithuania, latvia and poland. on the poor track record, i take the point. the challenge is that we are talking about a regime in moscow that is thoroughly corrupt and thoroughly authoritarian. it is arguably the worst it has been since the worst in the soviet period, going back to the 1960's and 1970's. the problem is that putin, the way he treats his own people is indicative of how he will treat people in other countries. that is why we have seen this aggressive russian response and behavior toward neighboring states. even going beyond countries like syria, russia increasing its presence in countries like m ali and talked about building up forces in cuba and venezuela. i would argue the authoritarian, corrupt regime is a threat to its own people first

also, putin launched campaigns. military campaigns, against any country in nearby that wanted to escape from his, what he calls -- he was very consistent. since 2007 when he made his speech in munich at security conference in europe. so he, he never retreated from his idea that russia was, was in a position to control not only former soviet republican, also eastern europe nations and we know putin never limited ambitions in this part of the world. instrumental in out al assad in syria and never -- >> gary, do you think that is why the u.s. is taking vladimir putin so seriously to some extent? because if they were just to come out and do what you're doing right now and call putin's bluff, wouldn't putin were tempted to puff out his chest and say, no, i am serious and then do something? can you talk about how very delicate that proposition is for the u.s. administration? >> yeah. it is delicate. let's not forget, delve into putin's problem and om now showing seriousness, because simply increasing degree in threats, it

president putin has a record of not liking to back down. it is a high-stakes negotiation and the rhetoric has been very harsh. >> why is ukraine a threat to russia in putin's opinion? >> kain is not directly a threat to russia and indeed ukraine has basically said it does not want to engage in military action against russia. ukraine has forged anha independent path since the collapse of the soviet union. itl has promoted democracy. it has promoted civil society. in that sense it isit an alternativeus to the russian regime enter russian politics as a whole. the threat from ukraine as it provides ann alternative path that has ramifications affirm russia. ukraine has two revolutions essentially and suggest there is another potentially evolution underway. putin does not want them to haveth it. >> explain why because a stan is adding to attention. >> is adding to the tension because russia has vowed to send troops under the collective. they have only but russia is now assuming the role of restoring ability and order and causes done. that may tak

how does this stop putin from going into ukraine? >> it is designed to reassure our nato allies, jan. -- jenna. >> how does it protect ukraine? >> it sends a very clear message to putin that we take our nato country seriously. we are working to implement severe consequences for mr. putin if you were to go, again into ukraine. largely economic consequences. i am trying to be very clear. about what success looks like, we obviously do not want to see another incursion in ukraine. we are using lots of leverage to try to communicate why that would be a bad thing for russia to do. number two, it is not an insignificant number two, to make sure nato stays unified and our allies are able to defend themselves. that is what this decision is all about. it is about putting these forces on high alert. host: here on washington journal, we would like to hear from you on nato's potential role in incursion of russia into ukraine. for republicans and independents, and others, (202) 748-8002. the european union called on russia monday to defuse tension

that was important to vladimir putin. the new administration gave a new extension without any concessions from the russians. i don't like criticizing the others. i was a lot smarter on these issues before i was national security advisor and i am smarter afterward but when you are in the thick of it, there are things that you know that the folks on the outside don't know. we felt it was very important to make sure the russians, there were concessions from the russians and not just paper agreements. that is something vladimir putin is concerned about and we need to make sure it is handled property. to be credible the negotiating table, we have to get back in the game with modernizing the triad and increasing our ability as necessary. >> one of the things that is purportedly and we don't have the full text on the table from the united states to the russians would be some arms control measures in your. -- europe. why not have deconfliction in and around the black seat? why not have more transparent ability to inspect -- that

that putin is in charge. world, the president of the united states, and i still don't understand how can you discuss the fate of ukraine without ukraine being at the table. >> so if ukraine is at the table, so to speak, with the president of the united states tomorrow by way of the phone call, isn't that a start? >> let's think why putin is negotiating with biden the fate of ukraine. the country he has been invading. also i don't understand, you know, why american administration keeps repeating if putin invade ukraine. he has invaded ukraine. eight years ago. he still occupies cripmea and part of eastern ukraine and threatening with sanctions doesn't make any good because white house yet to explain to us what was accomplished in june at the summit and then in another call. they told us in june -- >> what do you think the role -- >> and then gave them an ulti ultimatum. >> what do you think the role of the u.s. should be at this juncture with this new threat if the administration is not going to be able to add

inside putin's head. it engineered. inside putin's head. it is almost a distraction to what is going on at home, but there is something, isn't there, and president putin's psyche about geographical territory, the geopolitics, spheres of influence? if he were to invade, what would he gain in terms of geographical territory? gain in terms of geographical territo ? , , ., ., territory? very good question and ve hard territory? very good question and very hard to _ territory? very good question and very hard to answer. _ territory? very good question and very hard to answer. he _ territory? very good question and very hard to answer. he can - territory? very good question and l very hard to answer. he can invade, you can strike, holding onto territory of a country that does not want russia's presence there is much harder. we have seen this in afghanistan, both during this soviet campaign in the 1980s and during more recent american campaigns. holding onto territory is very hard. 0ccupying kyiv i think is pretty impossible militarily. so what he

you think putin cares? host: have we been able to effectively check anything that letterman putin has -- vladimir putin has wanted to do since he became president in 1999? caller: generally speaking, no. he has moved at will. he has moved at will. what have we done to stop him? nothing. i had an old jewish friend who told me one thing. he said people such as this only understands one thing. i love speaking with him. he told me they said, they only understand the stick. what he meant by that, they only understand force. these people only understand force. that is what americans do not understand. we think we can diplomat our way of things. the world is not like that. the world does not like us. the world is different from us. why isn't there ice in the drink? why? we are arrogant america. we do not understand for foreign affairs, we do not. they do not care. they simply do not. host: do not matter what the line is. there is not a lot of support for any u.s. support like terms of military force. from the peop

depending on what putin does or doesn't do. the pentagon sending javelin anti-tank missiles, grenade launchers, or launches, munitions and more to ukraine. that is very disturbing. the pentagon sending javelin anti-tank missiles, grenade launchers and munitions and more to ukraine. as the president says that he considers sanctioning putin himself if russia invades. and in the face of all of this, with tensions at an all-time high, you've got to wonder why does a certain network seem to love vladimir putin so much? you all know who i'm talking about. i'm talking about the fox propaganda network. we're watching again so you don't have to. and what we're seeing is a whole lot of praise for the authoritarian strongman who rules russia with an iron fist. never mind the velvet glove. >> why is it disloyal to side with russia but loyal to side with ukraine? they're both foreign countries who don't care anything about the united states. kind of strange. >> putin doesn't fear our military. he knows that diversity is no match for excelle

putin considering his options, is this what we are seeing, old putin, you can expect him to be a matterbiguity, doesn't that test is not to send mixed signals, is not actually like, but messes with issues, she does his stance ever so slightly so even the big boys of nato and big boys of european politics cannot get a grip on where they think he might decide to go next. >> as we know, he was a judo master. he has always moving around, watching where the best weaknesses are and how can he leverage that. that is a perfect example of how he is approaching these talks with nato. festival, they tried to break european unanimity by demanding bilateral talks with the united states, insinuating that the u.s. would not talk to the european allies about european security. wendi sherman has had 100 debriefings before the nato meetings after the meeting with russians about security in europe. that europeans are not happy, other members are happy. she had to make a for the deficit for lack of trust from the trump administration. people feel almost over briefed but i think they had to do this in order

you have a couple different sort of messages that putin is hearing. in december, and i think as recently as either today or just a few days ago, this administration, the biden administration, has said no, there won't be american boots on the ground in ukraine. you have nato partners saying, well, you know, maybe we shouldn't be militarizing and mobilizing as quickly. maybe we should keep going harder with the negotiations and diplomacy and sort of avoid a war. and you have others, the americans primarily and the uk, saying we need to be more aggressive and assertive, and the ukrainians are saying the same thing. putin is trying to figure out what's going on as carefully as we are. >> we have learned today the u.s. officials have still not sent a written response to russia's demands. why would that be? in the world of diplomacy, i mean, what is the significance of that? and how much stock do you put in this diplomatic process? >> well, to answer the latter question first, there just doesn't seem to be a whole lot of flex on either side of this, either

. >>> it's putin's call, the u.s. responds to the russian president's security demands regarding ukraine. is it enough for putin to back down. >>> supreme court justice stephen breyer is retiring, paving the way to name his successor, who's on the short list. and could having any role in january 6th disqualify some from becoming president. that's the legal challenge. let's go out front. good evening, i'm erin burnett. awaiting putin's response, russia's president to respond to written responses to putin's demand. >> we make clear there are core principles we are committed to uphold and defend, including ukraine sovereignty, and territorial integrity, and the rights to choose security arrangements and alliances. the document is with them, and the ball is in their court. we'll see what we do, as i said repeatedly, whether they choose the path of diplomacy and dialogue, whether they decide to renew aggression against ukraine, we're prepared either way. >> secretary of state antony blinken there, sticking with territorial

he believes the threats from vladimir putin are not hollow and that putin is, in fact, looking to invane >> i fear that putin is very likely to invade. i still, frankly, don't understand the full motivation for why now he's doing this. he certainly appears internt on it, unless we can persuade him otherwise. i think nothing other than a level of sanctions that russia has never seen will deter him, and that's exactly what we need to do with our allies. >> now, after this call, there will be several calls this month. the principals will not be involved. so president biden or vladimir putin, but high l-level diploma, and the calls will be consequential. as for the call today between the president and president biden, we'll keep you updated on what we learn. >> eva mckend, thank you. >>> let me bring in susan glasser, staff writer at "the new yorker," also a former moscow bureau chief and co-wrote a book called "kremlin rising, vladimir putin's russia and the end of the revolution." what does the ukrainian president need and want from the u.s. right now? >> unfortunately, when you have an in

china is watching, and they're going to look at it and say, well finishing putin can invade -- if putine, we can invade taiwan. iran is watching, north korea is watching. this could spin out of control and cause conflagrations across the world, so we need to start projecting strength in ukraine. we should immediately, immediately president biden should announce that nord stream 2 is over. we've proven if, russia's proven that it cannot be trusted to hold ukraine's energy supplies hostage, and he should lay out specific sanctions. what are the energy sanctions. the reason we haven't done that is because the germans don't want to do it. he should lay out those sanctions. he shoulding lay out the specific russian banks that will be sanctioned and show the cost to putin, that the costs will be higher than what he's willing to bear. shannon: all right, thank you, panel. we will see you later in the show. >>> up next, states move to the front lines of the abortion battle with the supreme court soon to decide a blockbuster case. we will talk to south dakota governor kristi noem on plans to pas

first of all, you know vladimir putin.ave done business in russia and have met him personally on a number of occasions. is he trying to divide the west? is this a political move to get into ukraine or splinter allies that have a strong hold against him? >> for my point of view, putin is very much a nationalist. the ukraine has been part of russia for the last three centuries, so the fact that today ukraine is separated from russia, it might even be part of nato, is something that is understandable for putin and russians. from this point of view, europeans have to cope with this in one way or other. francine: germany is a lot more friendly to russia than a lot of other countries at the moment. his putin going straight for the u.s.? >> i think he cares about the eu. there is so much commercial activity between the eu and russia. at the end of the day, gas is the key issue. it makes very difficult politics from europe toward russia. francine: so what does that mean going forward? we have had a number of conversations with a l

what's your sense of what putin is -- what motivates putin?confuse analysis with advocacy, but to understand putin i think the beginning of it is humiliation. in my experience, fareed, humiliation, whether we're talking about the middle east or europe or anywhere else, is one of the most powerful drivers of human activity, be it of individuals or countries. putin felt humiliated by the digs solution of the internal soviet empire that was the soviet union as well as the external warsaw pack. the ill-advised decision in 2008 by nato and led by the united states to open up georgia to the possibility of nato membership that has continued to advance in recent years. the continuing slights of -- remember when president obama described russia as a regional power. this is a man who has done nothing to build a domestic legacy. there's not much in the way of economy, not much in the way of a political system. as anne described it, as a kleptocracy but he has done a lot in terms of not making russia great again but making russia a great power that is res

what is putin's strategy here? what — accusation. what is putin's strategy here?utin's strategy here? what does he _ accusation. what is putin's strategy here? what does he really - accusation. what is putin's strategy here? what does he really want? . here? what does he really want? ideally what he wants is what he has demanded the ultimatum he has sent to the nato and united states. which is effectively to draw nato forces back to a position that they were in a 1997. he also has the advantage of having had a revolution in both kazakhstan not failed as a revolution, it was a big uprising, and huge protests in belarus which has enabled him to build up a russian military status in belarus. so if he could get ukraine along with that, and also have made us withdraw entirely from romania and bulgaria, he will have a belt of countries whose governments are in effect compelled to accept his demands. which would be a great shift in the position in europe, the european security. has shift in the position in europe, the european security.— shift in the position in europe,

just in the same way it is wrong in my view to say putin, putin, putin because in russia there is antablishment which in some ways putin is a centrist because there are forces that are more aggressive, more militaristic and want more action against the united states. the opposition to nato is not just putin. it was also yeltsin. that has been a long-running issue. a recent survey reported in the washington post showed ukrainians were largely opposed to u.s. actions, nato actions on their border. you cannot just do people. they are forces, and they are structures that limit or expand the possibility of change. you mentioned the nation. the idea of social movements has been central to change in this country. leadership does not take action alone. the fact that these issues are popular is because there has been social movement mobilization around them. host: let's see if you can squeeze in one more collar. sean calling from florida on the republican line. good morning. caller: good morning. i don't get how you say there is buy-in for child care and the voting rights act and build back b

putin is a mafia boss. he relies on a network of people under bosses, coppos, people under him who don't have his resources. they don't have his money, his political protection, and the west through sanctions and other kinds of pressure about things like travel and movement, they can make life hard on that inner circle and perhaps they can prevail on him to hold back somewhat, but he's doing this for his own reasons, and i think even people within the kremlin aren't quite sure what he's doing or why. >> what do you think those reasons are? >> one is that putin is very much a product of the soviet system. he has a tremendous nostalgia for the soviet era. not for communism, but the era of the kremlin sitting atop a great empire. and he has a fundamental hostility to nato. peter baker's point about trying to split the alliance is really important because putin really wants to show that nato doesn't matter and that these newly independent, newly in 30 years independent countries aren't countries at all. putin e

that is putin.culations, general clark, so far, putin's actions have actually sparked a boost in nato troops and arms in russia's backyard. he's basically provided justification for nato to expand further, should it desire so. isn't that his worst nightmare? did putin orverplay his hand? >> it absolutely is. his worst option is nato stays united and countries there continue to seek nato protection and then nato has to give them more forces and more support. all of the nato enlargement began in the nin1990s for one reason. it wasn't nato's region. these countries came to nato and begged to be given the protection from russia. as the foreign minister of bulgaria said to me in the 1990s, she said russia today is weak but some day it will be strong. before then, bulgaria must be a member of nato. that was the sentiment all the way through eastern europe. they knew what the russians would come back and they want rush -- russia wants its eastern european empire back. that's what this is really about. >> g

president vladimir putin has not.imea, supported separatist conflict and now amassed over 100,000 troops on the borders of ukraine — over 100,000 troops on the borders of ukraine. these are repeated and unjustifiable acts of aggression so labour— unjustifiable acts of aggression so labour stands resolute in our sunport — labour stands resolute in our support of the sovereignty and independence and territorial integrity of ukraine. that was made clear when— integrity of ukraine. that was made clear when our shadow foreign secretary— clear when our shadow foreign secretary and shadow defence secretary and shadow defence secretary visited kyiv a fortnight a-o secretary visited kyiv a fortnight ago and — secretary visited kyiv a fortnight ago and i— secretary visited kyiv a fortnight ago and i made it clear to the ukrainian _ ago and i made it clear to the ukrainian ambassador when i met him last week _ ukrainian ambassador when i met him last week. this isn'tjust ukrainian ambassador when i met him last week. this isn't