they don't like that russians are dying in ukraine. if there are more russian body bags, mr. putin's support could diminish. >> polls consistently show that the russian population does not favor the russian army fighting and ukraine. i think there is a huge amount of evidence. you saw what happened when the first soldiers were being buried. i heard from a friend who lost their leg in ukraine that he was told if he said how he lost his leg, he would lose his disability. >> the example that stephen is citing also demonstrates that mr. putin has been capable of suppressing evidence. >> we need to acknowledge the dynamic of the united states getting openly involved in this war. that will change russian domestic policy. one of the things that works very well in russian domestic policy is the american bogeyman coming to get you. when the president of the united states stands up and says i'm sending weapons to oppose the russians in ukraine, that is going to free up president putin from a lot of the constraints you just mentioned. i think it is very important for the united states t

but let those people, russians go. the united states embassy supported the burning of kiev and the overthrow of the last government could u.s. embassy personnel were handing out food and supplies. there were guys running around their chests in the streets of kiev and the u.s. embassy was associating with them. the media is at fault in this because it did not explain to the american people -- american public what putin was talking about when he talked about ukrainian fascism and ultra nationalism. host: stephen in gaithersburg maryland independent caller. caller: good morning, better. thank you for c-span, thank you for "washington journal." my simple answer is i'm not sure. however, i believe there is a lot of utility and being able to listen to our allies in europe, who will probably be able to tell us give us an idea of what foreign policy route to go down. throughout this whole debate, i have not heard anything from the polls, anything from the estonians or the latvians or the lithuanians. my understanding is that w

he wouldn't be claiming the very popular organization in russian the committee of russian soldiers fightingukraine mr. putin pays attention he's an autocrat but he pays attention to public opinion. he is vulnerable is lots of russian soldiers return to russianrussia dead. that will raise the political cost of him raising are. >> fighting with russia will actually strengthen him domestically. sorry. we are talking about a dictatorship first of all and a dictatorship thrive, thrive when they have sanctions thrive thrive when they have an external threat. transatlantic trend proves that the russians regardless, in this case even more so. so all we have done so far have been just strengthening. >> mr. ambassador i'll give you a chance to respond to that point in a moment. we'll be back with more "inside story" after a short break. when we return, too much help for ukrainian or not ukraine or not enough? did western leaders provoke a showdown with russia and leave ukraine the its fate? still ahead on "inside story," stay with us. w >> 140 world leaders will take the podium. >> get the full story

stalin but live like russian who owns chelsea.u think in the mind of an autocrat, perfect world. you can go on yachts in the mediterranean, london football clubs but also authoritarian at home. putin's problem even before the ukrainian crisis, this was breaking down somewhat because the russian economy wasn't working. it wasn't delivering the results needed to sustain this. he was looking for some other source of legitimacy. yanukovych the ousted ukrainian president, partly offered that. he could have sort of a mini putin, a minikleptocracy next door, reinforcing him a little bit. what he's discovered now, i think somewhat to his surprise, i don't think he has a master plan, i think it's been tactical, he can use extreme nationalism as a new source of legitimacy. the thing is it's not going to last. this is a house of cards. >> bill, paint a picture of the russian economy. you know this economy backwards and forwards. you were the most successful investor in russia. what does the russian economy look like today and why is a somewh

russian military officials charge that russian so-called volunteers moved into eastern ukraine to fight along side the rebels. since last month pitched battles intensified between both sides as rebels opened up a new offensive i a gains government lives. one town in the east has become a flash point in the battle for territory because of a city's strategic importance. from there charles stratford has this report. >> ukranian army fires a volley of grad rockets to the front line. the separatists say they have vouched debaltseve a down under siege. volunteers, like this man, try to drive civilians to safety. you can hear shelling and shooting. at night it was intense, he said. "i have to go", says this man, "it's bad in there, very bad." we followed a bus along the mud roads into towns, attempts at negotiating a temporary truce for safe passage failed. >> go go go. >> catch them catch them. >> reporter: the shelling is intense. a few people on the street run for cover. what sounds like artillery or mortars fears towards targets that we cannot see. there have been repeated efforts at tryin

one way i think would make an impression on the russians is to deny the russian tourists why don't we deny them passports? they love to party in france and london. why don't we just did deny -- just deny them passports? >> guest: the europeans have imposed sanctions against certain individuals that have denied them access to europe. i don't think we are at this tape, -- this stage, we are going to penalize the entire country many won't be able to travel of four -- a broad because they will not be able to afford it. the reality is when russians travel abroad, when they experience something different it only works to our advantage. we do not want to isolate russia. we want russians to understand how the west works and to experience the west. therefore, i don't think a travel ban at this time does really appropriate. >> host: dennits from watertown, south dakota. good morning. >> caller: yes. i think one point would be to bring up would be the supply of the natural gas and the pipeline goes through ukraine they have that leverage that they could shut off the pipeline. since western europ

running itself on russian time. you have to cross through ukrainian border guards to get into and frankly recognizes itself as russia. it's an extraordinary mess. a lot of damage to this one city of a million people and maybe there is some in kiev who thinks it's time to let go of it and let russia pick up the pieces however damaging to ukrainian officials who want to see the fight for this area and ukraine's territorial integrity continue. >> nick paton walsh, we'll get back to you in donetsk. let's go to kiev the capital of ukraine. frederik pleitgen is on the scene for us there. we know the ukrainian government and president poroshenko has been begging for aid. he spoke before a joint meeting of congress last september asking for military aid. the u.s. has not yet supplied it. potentially right now on the verge of starting what's called this defensive lethal aid to the ukrainian military despite opposition of so many in europe including the german chancellor angela merkel. what are they anticipating where you are

russian president vladimir putin and ukrainian president petro poroshenko. down playing the chacheses of anychances of anysort of break through. any hope to last ditch effort to halt the conflict that have killed 5,000 even more? >> you're right, there's not a huge lot ever optimism. if you are going to draw optimism from anything, draw it from the fact they are all here, all sitting together, and all talking to each other. it's been a long not so far of negotiations has been taken up many hours. at one point, sergey lavrov the russian foreign minister, took a break, spoke to journalists, they asked him how it was going, his reply, super. they asked him to clarify what he meant, better than super. there is a possibility that these talks may not culminate on thursday night, maybe go into the next morning. >> the americans have not ruled that out, there is some talk that the white house is preparing some legislation unclear where that will go clearly they're thinking about it as a last resort. but does the idea of the west in some fashion tarming ukrainians ch

separatists but russian force, russian heavy weapons, russian troopers and commanders leading what john kerry called so-called pro-russian separatists. you heard in his public comments earlier when he was standing alongside ukrainian president, listen to how he described it. >> the largest threat that ukraine faces today, and that is russia's continued aggression in the east. there's no other way to call it. we're not seeking a conflict with russia. no one is, not president poroshenko not the united states not the european company. that's not what this is about. we want a diplomatic resolution but we cannot close our eyes to tanks that are crossing the border from russia and coming in to ukraine. we can't close our eyes to russian fighters in unmarked uniforms crossing the border and leading individual companies of so-called separatists in battle. we can't close our eyes to modern rockets and modern radar capacity and other capacity that has crossed the border in order to prosecute this conflict across sovereign lines, across international borders against all the promises that were made

so the russians have been escalating.ld argue that you can put the russians in the dilemma on escalation, where further escalation likely then as professor mearsheimer described would involve the russian army, one it exposes at home the vladimir putin that the russian army is fighting in eastern ukraine and raises the question of casualties. i don't think mr. putin cares about soldiers, but he cares about the impact on his approval rating. so the idea that the russians will automatically jump up i think is a mistake. one last point is we talk about this kind of a west-russia context. ukraine gets a vote. i mean, ukraine very much has a say or should have a say in how it's going to develop as a country. >> ifill: professor mearsheimer, assuming you disgee with a lot of that, which i'm assuming you do i want to move you forward to the other solution diplomacy? is it standing in place? >> just before i answer that question, gwen, let me say i don't think that putin and the russians more generally are responsible for this cri

state, of the russian opposition, of the political parties the russian prime ministers, of the russian nationalities, of the way the empire functions through time and into this chaotic period of war or revolution. do we have any other questions? >> one thing you never mentioned was -- fascism. [inaudible] i wonder in 1914 when he was about 40 does he think about jeb durfee or does he only think in terms of warfare? >> yes so i mentioned at the outset that stalin was a true believing marxist from an early age and that he held these convictions very deeply. this is documented in the book and we see him speaking in marxist category behind the scenes as well as in public. one of the things we discovered when we were first allowed into the secret archives is they talk the same way in private as they did in public. so the marxist ideology was not a veneer it was not a show. they weren't cynical but this is how they actually thought and this was the basis for many of their actions. and stones case it's very important to acknowledge that he was a true believer in the marxist canon as he unders

history, russian people, russian society. and you we will find knew material that talks about mr. putin and the outside world. i am going to let them take over now. what we want to do is have a chance to talk about the contents of the book and especially its relevance for what is going on right now and the real sense that this book has never been more could not be more important than it is right now. if you go out they're to the book the knew addition, paperback editions of the book maybe as many as ten books to talk about world war i the beginning of world war i. and one book in particular right on the top is sleepwalker. you may have read it. into a new global conflict that originally stems from the idea we just don't understand each other, countries don't understand each other's intention, and individuals are misunderstood. let me give the mic to fiona. talk a little bit about this notion of where are the misreadings. >> they're hear. you know, this is to the.that i certainly got millions of people appear. comes upon some

history russian people, russian society. and you will find then this new material that talks about mr. putin and the outside world. i'm going to let fiona take over now because what we want to do is have a chance to talk about the contents of the book and especially its relevance for what's going on right now. and in a real sense we think this book has never been more could not be more important than it is right now. not least because if you go out there to the book table where the new editions paperback editionsover books that -- of books that kramer books always has in the middle you will find at least five maybe as many as ten books that talk about the beginning of world war i. and one book in particular right on the top of the pile is called the sleepwalkers. this is our greatest fear right now, that we may be sleepwalking into a new major global conflict even that originally stems from the idea that we just don't understand each other countries don't understand each other's intention, and individuals are misunderstood.

because the russians see democracy promotion by the west as basically an attempt to overthrow pro-russianrs are russian leaders themselves, and put in their place leaders who are pro-western. so the russians are very sensitive about this, therefore it is no accident this whole crisis started last february when there was a coup in kiev where pro-russian leader, yanakovich, was overthrown, with help from the united states. this is something the russians considered to be unacceptable and led to the present crisis. >> i want to ask general wald about how military contractors in the united states feel. you are a retired four-star air force general. you're the former deputy mmander of u.s. european command. you're also currently department of defense practice leader. with the weapons industry in this country benefit from arming ukraine? >> first of all, i'm not a weapons dealer and i don't represent the light in this discussion. number three, i doubt seriously if logic and all with think this is a good idea that we could someone arms to nato or ukraine in this case. it is the wrong argument. le

we have to understand that it began with russian aggression.s began with russia, creating the rules that governed europe. since the world war ii, which is that you can't change borders by force. there's another reason it's egregious. in 1994 ukraine voluntarily gave up a nuclear weapon. there was an agreement in guaranteed. table. >> the issue is it's the elephant in the room. how can it be pushed beforing it grose wrong. at what point are you convinced that everyone says this is not about nuclear weapons, no one is touching that. >> i think you are right to point to the gravity of the situation, that's why people have to be careful about escalating the conflict. seeking a peaceful solution, when it seems there's a slimmest chance is correct. having said that, i think it's important look at this with eyes wide open, and appreciate that what we see since last march is a steady russian escalation of the crisis, and a russian breaking of their own word. we have an annexation of crimea, and the push of russia into and... >> in a recent article you

caller: one way i think would make an impression on the russians is to deny the russian tourists why don't we deny them passports? guest: the europeans have imposed sanctions against certain individuals that have denied them access to europe. i don't think we are at this tape, we are going to penalize the entire country many won't be able to afford it. the reality is, you know when russians travel abroad, when they experience something different, it only works to our advantage. we do not want to isolate russia. we want russians to understand how the west works and stoto experience the west. therefore, i don't think a travel ban at this time does really appropriate. host: dennits from watertown, south dakota. good morning. caller: yes. i think one point would be to bring up would be the supply of the natural gas and the pipeline goes through ukraine they have that leverage and since western europe is not energy self-support they would need that natural gas for their winters. >> the gas question is a crucial question for the europeans, for eastern europe and western europe for that mat

they demand more autonomy -- >> that russian desires to extend its umbrella of support to russian speakers in the territories. there is some encouragement coming from the russian government. >> that's true. but the problem is i think every great country and great power like united states, france, great britain they are of course always ready to protect americans, you know, or british -- >> but america has no enclaves anywhere where it extends production to a group of people. >> but every american citizen abroad is the subject of american protection. >> not russian citizens in eastern ukraine. >> that is another problem because we lived for centuries inside unified country. soviet union and russian empire which means these borders are arbitrary drawn borders. >> but they have been agreed to borders. >> it is one thing to agree but when you are forcing them to foresight their language, their identity this creates attention. this is normal. >> so russia wants the ability to have its own people, its russian speakers experience, in the place they live, what about ukraine's right to self determi

russian media report military exercises are taking place in crimea. >> the important thing to remember here is what's happening tomorrow, the minsk talks supposed to be going ahead, supposed to be where some sort have negotiated peace settlement is reached that's the hope. it's pretty elementary negotiating strategy, to go into talks like this with your hands as strong as possible. at the moment, we have russia telegraphing to anyone who wants to be listening that it is still and always has been a military power to be reckoned with. that's why we are seeing not particularly big military exercises, but certainly significant in terms of location. we have 2,000 intelligence personnel on exercise in the southern russian military district that borders ukraineed. we also have some 600 troops on exercise, along with 50 tanks in recently acquired rhyme mia. it's not just going on in russia. on the other side of the border, there is jostling for position happening. if the rumors are true about the encirclement of debaltseve, than this is a firm boots on the jugular of the ukraine army and the u

could justify russian military action here.astonia has become a new fast response base for nato with soldiers being trained and fighting jets at the air base and government says there was no alternative. >> when putin senses a vacuum he rushes to fill it. when he sees weakness and indecision i think he will try to exploit it when he sees strength and unity, he will be deterred. >> reporter: nato justification of defense of astonia has high profile critics and among them here an astonia and aid to michael mikhail gorbachev and independence from the soviet union and given that place in history his criticism of nato is highly significant. >> provocation for russia and i don't think it's provocation for russia to attack astonia but doesn't increase astonia's security certainly because there is no way that russia is going to attack astonia or lithuania for that matter because it's not in russia interest. >> reporter: what about russia in astonia and do they see themselves like crimea? no they do not. >> translator: they feel part of

. >> a former russian spy, who's fallen out with the kremlin, is poisoned by russian secret agents in a london hotel, as they put polonium in his tea. it may sound like something out of a spy novel, but this is allegedly what happened to alexander litvinenko in 2006. a public inquiry into that case has just opened. but other kremlin opponents in europe say they also fear for their safety, including a former chechen minister who accuses vladimir putin of war crimes. >> said-emin ibragimov doesn't come alone to the river ill near strasbourg to fish anymore. last august, two men attacked him here, and it's a miracle that he lived to tell the story. >> they hit me on the head from behind. then they dragged me into the woods and tortured me there with a clothes iron on the chest, the back, everywhere. >> ibragimov hoped to be able to live in freedom when he sought refuge in strasbourg 12 years ago. he had flown from the violence and torture of the russians in chechnya. but moscow's long arm caught up with him in the west. ibragimov is convinced that the torturers were henchmen of russian

she believes on the contrary that would cause the russian separatists and the russians themselves to up the ante. it is a situation where they feel they are in somewhat of a bind. of course on the battlefield things haven't been going well at all. a then you have the international negotiations that are going on which at this point in time have not yielded anything. however, there is said to be that phone call between angela merkle francois hoe laupdllande and putin trying to get some sort of cease-fire back in place. >> she certainly is continuing to try. she said that talking must go on. we will wait and see, because the u.s. congress continues to talk about helping ukraine with military arms. thanks to fred met again. >> reporter: as people continue to die in eastern ukraine, leaders on both sides continue to blame each other for the the escalation. take a listen to what sergey lavrov had to say. >> translator: as regards ukraine at any stage of the crisis the american counterparts and the european union under their influence took steps to escalate the conflict. this was the case w

the russian economy has been hit. we are seeing the oligarchs lost billions in the value of their assets. we saw the russian currency, the rouble knows dived. is that enough? >> no, there needs to be more. we need further sanctions. what kind? with iran, when the united states and the world switched off the the interbank payment system, the swift, it got iran quickly to the negotiating table. if we talk about switching off swift, this important interbank payment system for russia, i am sure that would have a massive effect on the russians, and vladimir putin will see that the west is serious. >> andy joins us from london. thank you for being was. we'll be back with more "inside story" after a short break. when we come back, opposing views on how the world got here, and what the take holders have to do if peace in eastern europe . >>> welcome back to "inside story" on al jazeera america i'm ray suarez, why the emphasis on the battle for debaltseve. for one thing, a lot of resources has been sent in. and the center conn

even if we have signatures on the paper, will the russians and russian separatists abide by the rules of this. as much as this seems like progress at this stage the devil will be in the detail and the follow through is going to determine whether or not ultimately we see positive action and follow through on this accord right now. this is going to make the leaders late depending on who has their own plane but obviously the remaining leaders have plenty to discuss here and they'll just join at a later stage. 1:00 p.m. the arrivals expected from the eu leaders and as you were mentions just before that greece also. i'd argue there was progress made on that subject. we were never expecting a deal to be announced today. the view was these talks would continue and we would try and reach some agreement on monday. we were always suggesting it was going to come down to just how this is talked about and negotiated going forward. the greeks said we don't want this finance program but he said we don't want to extend this program. so it just comes down to terminology on how they can go home and eve

d russian bombers.s intercepted another russian bomber. david cameron downplayed the incident. >> i suspect the russians are trying to make some sort of a point and i don't think we should dignify it with too much of a response. >> likely his response a reflection of what you mentioned, the russian planes stayed outside of u.k. air space.cmsem >> what are the russians doing? what are they trying to accomplish? >> military expects say they're basically projecting its power by flying up to the edge of sovereign air space and probing to see how nato country respon d and see their tactics. one says this looks like cold war 2. >> they were always testing trying to find your vulnerable points and that's what i see is going on now. they are laying out intelligence preparation to the battlefield. >> and during the cold war the u.s. and russia flew probing -- so-called probing flight near each other's air space. >> all right,i s& lea, thank you. kind of like vladimir on a hers, except now his planes are near a c

of helping the rebels on the ground a charge the russians deny.sian military officials concede that volunteers from russia crossed into eastern ukraine to fight on the side of rebels. charles stratford is on the ground. he filed this report showing how civilians are coping. >> nearly 70 people are lying here and more come every day. in this stuffy poorly lit basement under a block of flats, the families try their best to continue their lives. they fled their homes, shelling is intense. this home was damaged when a shell destroyed her neighbour's place. >> translation: we hope the talks about succeed in the hope for peace. last night shelling shattered all the windows on the fourth floor, destroying part of a building. last night children were tucking down. women crying. >> the volunteer group that brought them food no longer comes. in donetsk. an aid convoy arrived. >> this is the latest humanitarian aid convoy to a region suffering a humanitarian crisis it's hoped thousands will be helped in donetsk and beyond. this is the 13th delivery from russ

i think the russian bushoir is crushed, over. putin didn't want to get here thought it would be simple join the customs union and it was all going to be fine. he did crimea i think impulsively. it worked better than he thought and he's just kind of kept on going since then. >> so a lot of the conversation has been about putin, the personal nature of the regime him as a person. you've battled in a way personally with this regime. he's talked about you personally. what are the conclusions -- what's your conclusion in reading of the regime based on the struggles you recount in your book? >> well first of all, putin is entirely rational. he doesn't do anything irrationaly, autos just operating with different motives than we are. first thing you have to understand about putin, throw all morality out the window when it comes to decision making. he will kill people start wars destroy russian population if it enhances his position makes him wealthier or keeps him from being arrested. what this ukrainian situation is about everything else

or the pro-russian separatists do that, then i absolutely will provide lethal aid. he said he couldn't cite a specific point. and in fact he even praised russia when he talked about the work being done with iran discussions. he said at the end the measure about when i make a decision of whether or not to arm the ukrainians. it is more likely to be effective or not. everything he said in that press conference is that he thinks it is not likely to be effective at this point. >> that will seriously disappoint president poroshenko of ukraine. i want to go to ukraine right now. nick payton walsh is joining us from donetsk in ukraine. that's a hard hit area and you have been to other areas that have been bombarded. how is this likely to play in the ukraine, what we've just heard from the chancellor and the president. >> reporter: i think many may have been waiting for the conference. now frankly they sounded like two world leaders very key not to upset anybody before the minsk negotiations rather than explain how bad things could go for russia if a cease-fire wasn't agree

i wrote a story about a russian writers claim that the cia published doctor chicago in russian to win the nobel prize. as i noted, that was an accurate. but at the time i began to read about pasternak and just auto delete 56 and the strange bond between him and stalin even though they only spoke once and on the phone. his messy private life he had essentially two families, and the state never in prison and pasternak but they did strike indirectly by putting his mistress in the gulags twice. the early hostile reaction to the novel from the state publisher and glittery journals, pasternak's decision to give the manuscript to a young italian sergio deangelo and who also worked as a scout. the efforts of the kremlin in conjunction with the italian communist party to intimidate both the author and the publisher stopped the publication and got the book back. the correspondence between pasternak which is a is attested to the artistic freedom such rally broke with the communist party of which he was a leading member and financier and was a first publisher of doctor cheval which appeared in it

but if you look, the russians have escalated. so the rationale is to discourage the russians from further escalation. we have just seen what is taking place around the net. there might be a russian separatist push to go even further. >> the policy of arming the ukrainian forces that could be changing here in washington. dominique strauss-kahn, the former head of the international monetary fund, has gone on trial in france on charges of helping to procure women for sex parties. he was once tipped to win the french presidency. he is accused of being at the center of a prostitution ring. the parents of a former spy have said that -- she thought her husband would be killed when he spoke about corruption. he died after drinking tea leaf with radioactive polonium. marino was testifying at the public inquiry in london. three people have been killed by a bomb outside a stadium in northern nigeria just moments after president goodluck jonathan addressed in election campaign rally there. a female suicide bomber blew herself up inside the c

world leaders call it a glimmer of hope to stop the fighting with pro-russian separatists. u.s. president barack obama says he is ready to send special forces into kiloliters of the islamic state group as he asks -- to kill leaders of the islamic state. an watchdog without borders says a drastic decline with more and more journalists directly targeted. also on the way for you, no new deal on great debt. talks with eurozone's finance ministers fails to reach an agreement as greece reaches closer to bailout limbo. stephen carroll will have more in business without any "50 shades of grey" frenzy continues. we will take a look at the rising effect it has had on sex toys. more on that later this hour but first our top stories. world leaders seem cautiously optimistic after a night of peace talks on eastern ukraine. leaders from russia, ukraine france, and germany reached a deal to end the fighting with pro-russian separatists in the east. more than 350 people have died there in 10 months of fighting. here is more now from the russian president vladimir putin. >> it has not been the b

russian force, russian heavy weapons. some minor progress today. the smaller towns that have been hit allowing civilians to flee. with each of these smaller sees fires, the front line advances and there's left more land under in effect russian control. still no decisions yet on whether there will be a new round of economic sanctions against russia and also the key question will the u.s. send military aid to ukraine. that's still unresolved. alisyn and chris. >> jim, thank you very much. give us the latest when you have it. >>> ukraine on one side, russia on the other. just an hour from now a meeting with vladimir putin with so much in the balance. let's get to aaron mclaughlin. she's in moscow monitoring the situation. who will be there and what is on the table? >> reporter: well good morning, chris. german chancellor angela merkel expected to arrive here in moscow within the hour followed shortly thereafter by french president francois hollande. they'll be sitting down at the table with russian president vladimir putin. the stated german-french go

the idea is to not beat the russian army but to impose such costs on the russian army if the russiansate the conflict that moscow decides that the military option is not there or does not have a cheap military option. as for the sanctions, this is pressure on the russians to turn to a negotiated peaceful settlement. >> this is a real question today right now on the ground. you heard from the secretary. you heard from the administration there, calling this a dire situation that's only getting worse. you, when putting out this report i also read in the piece you put in "the washington post" that you think the calendar is not on the side of ukraine in this situation. you say time is urgent. why is that? >> well there were a group of us -- five of us in ukraine two weeks ago and we had an opportunity to meet with officials in kiev and also traveled about 45 kilometers from the line of contact between the separatists and the ukrainians. what we heard there was concern what happens in this spring? right now it's cold hard to conduct military operations. you have no tree cover. there is conc

russian state, the russian turks, russian judicial system the christ the savior church whereas in ukraine you have competing political forces. this balance of power you mentioned to resolve conflicts dealing with these insults. >> i actually am writing about it. if the state and church have this power and approval the last one the oil prices, but before it was like 87 thousand percent. in this situation it's hard to get a recommendation. only empowerment of people and lightning of people probably the only way to deal with it. every time the drunk party tries to improve try to impose a. this is worth making ukraine more open. trying to impose and make it so differences. more than 4,000 people killed. it is really helping them to stay against this totalitarian regime. >> thank you very much. much. the book is available for oxford university press. presentation. >> and thank you very much for your questions because i am writing a book on insult now. it is interesting to see. it will be more like personal level. >> very good. thank you for coming. [applause] >> on twitter and facebook. and we

the russian president is an hungry. could you tell us what is vladimir putin's strategy when it comes to hungary and the eu? >> letterman -- vladimir putin's visit caught the government by surprise. he invited himself to hungary. he said he would like to come a few weeks after chancellor merkel and the government was not in a position to say no after flirting with russia for so long and after talking about eastern partnership, eastern opening. he is coming to hungary to show that he still has a friend and ally in the european union. this is the first time that he comes to an eu capital since last june. >> was this a big step for people? what set of support is there for him? >> well, it is a very delicate situation. he tries to cut back a little bit from his previous rhetoric and he is now talking about eastern opening so much but there is no way out. they are talking about a ukraine and the gas prices, it is also important to see that he just visited the ukraine this week and he is going to poland the day after tomorrow

sea closer to the russian border than mariupul. ahead of the minsk talks which is going to be significant for establishment of a peace deal with ukraine. >> rory challenge, thank you. >>> scheduled for february 14th now delayed by six weeks to give time the country of nigeria says to improve security. by that time boko haram fighters will be driven out. >>> niger's parliament voted to help to send in troops. boko haram has releaseed pictures showing abu ba considerarshakaush -- bakar,. >> a security force says 12 of the hostages were killed. now in -- in neighboring niger the third attack in four days. >>> continuing fight against south sudan is threatening another famine. the united nations say two and a half million people are on threat of starvation. more than half of south sudan population is in need of aid. >> a woman from hong kong is accused of domestic abuse against her employee,ing the case has below advocated protest for the more than 3,000 people in hong kong who serves as personal aids. from chicago john hendren reports

we're seeing dire impact on the russian economy. it is an open question whether they will come along with us if we choose to arm and train the ukrainian forces. no boots on the ground here. this is about providing sufficient armament to really give the russians tactical pause. lou: how concerned are you? how concerned should we be about this next step by putin and when do you expect to see it? >> we'll see this unfold over the next 7-10 days as we see this fictitious cease-fire fall apart. thing to watch, lou, is whether or not russia decides to make a move on a nato nation, particularly estonia or poland that would be an enormous red line for the alliance. lou: all right admiral good to see you, james stavridis. >> thank you sir. >> nor evidence tonight that president obama can't manage the machinery of government. there's been another obamacare calamity. some 800,000 people who received federal subsidies last year have been sent the wrong tax information. that mistake means those people will see, in most cases, delayed tax refunds

how do you blunt the advance of the pro-russian separatists to the point that vladimir putin the russian president, may be willing to negotiate. andre made a good point on the defensive weapons. one of the things that we're talking about as he mentioned the counter battery raiders. these are raiders that can detect in-coming artillery and mortar shells and pinpoint the location that they come from. as he said, if you use them in concert with another weapon to target the place that's targeting you that could be seen as offensive but the raiders are probably one of the weapons that could be seen purely as a defensive weapon. they're only good if you are attacked. there are class of weapons that would fit that criteria. >> you see the president entering the east room, besides him german chancellor angela merkel. we take you live to the white house. >> as hauls, it's always, it's a great pleasure to welcome my great friend and partner angela merkel back to the white house. angela has been here many times but this visit is a chance for me to congratulate her on two achievements well into her

russian tanks, russian soldiers? >> obviously i can't tell you what we are receiving in intelligence briefings but certainly, we know from the ukrainians themselves that there are thousands of russian troops that are present in ukraine and that the heavy equipment that is going back and forth to the border between the border represents a significant threat. if you look at what they have had outside, general breedlaw has made it very clear as to the invasion force outside of the border and the russian troops inside the border oppose a full invasion threat. this is vladimir putin not just merely being adventuresome. he tends to take a significant portion of ukraine if we do nothing to stop him. >> how long do we have does the u.s. have before it's too late to act on the ukrainians? >> i was talking to one nato general just last weekend and he was saying time is running short. since russia has not been deterred they made their intentions absolutely clear. the ukrainians both in what they have in reserves and what they a

a leading russian operant -- russian politician is shot dead. he was shot -- four times by an unidentified attacker. >> what do you call those? >> i call them in years. -- i call them ears. >> we look back on leonard nimoy's career and his signature role. welcome to public television in america and around the globe. for cement soft have been -- has been shot and killed in moscow. he was shot four times by an unidentified assailants near the come on. he served as deputy prime minister under boris yeltsin in the 1990's. on the line from moscow, what more can you tell us? >> there aren't a huge amount of details just yet. we know this happened shortly before midnight local time. the news just came out an hour later. we understand boris was sought -- force was shot four times -- boris was shot four times by a gun man in a white car. police are hunting for the car and for the shooter. that was confirmed soon afterwards when his political opposition colleague was quoted on twitter. she was next to the body and could confirm he had been shot. since the