we thank ruchir sharma for his appearance yesterday. russia 13, the u.s. nine.hat is the number of gold medals earned at the olympics today. we will find out the tone right now. peter, why does he have to go to sochi to meet with vladimir putin? was that expected or dictated? peter: the reality of this meeting is that it was a surprise in the first place. john kerry the highest-ranking u.s. official to meet with vladimir putin in russia in more than two years. he was the last to do it in 2013 just before the edward snowden situation blew up and snowden landed in russia. this is a test, if you will, to see if the lines of the medication between the u.s. and russia can be improved amid continuing tensions particularly over ukraine. whether or not there can be some way to foster a more sustainable peace in ukraine, and maybe the sleeper issue is syria, to see if there is the possibility of greater cooperation between the u.s. and russia, trying to end the syrian civil war, and particularly, russian support for bashar al-assad. brendan: so the meeting is happening b