he does not want to re-create the soviet union. he just wants them in effect to be part on alliance with russia. he wants them to do russia's bidding. he is trying to prevent them from moving to the west. he has been successful in breaking the deal between armenia and the european union. he has been successful in getting the ukraine and yanukovych to break the deal with the eu. they are trying to do this in a way that reflects a long period of history. i don't think he is trying to re-create the soviet union. but he wants russia to be in control. >> why don't you think he wants to re-create the soviet union? >> poland was never part of the soviet union. ukraine is an economic basket case. so are some of the other states. he wants political influence. he wants these countries to look to russia for guidance on what to do on the international environment. he wants to re-create or create some kind of an economic union. he sternly does not want responsibility for the internal problems. they have economic problems. >> he says that the wo

of the soviet union. the world is not going to tolerate a lone superpower and unchallenged nation of the world. global reach everywhere and when the united states pulls back. first, we project power. we project power economically, culturally and militarily and strategically. then the lust for power fills that vacuum. it's pushing. russia pushed into georgia in 2008. they gave us a preview of what was to come. now here we are these six or so years later and watching now as putin finished up with his olympics, i think a lot of it has to do with raising the spirits of the soviet people so he could get away with this cold tactic of a military invasion and conquest of the crimea. and he he has his ice on the balance of the ukraine and the old soviet union and whatever order he can pull this off. and if we show weakness and don't stare him down and don't ut the he equipment and things in place, putin is going to move through these countries one through the other. there is a hiatus through georgia and ukraine th

the soviet union doesn't exist anymore. whether it seems -- it is a problem whether it is there are problem whether it is here. international law is clear. itre is no in the world justifies invading a country. >> ray mcgovern? as toppreciate the lesson how the soviet union doesn't exist anymore. since theterests ninth century, that is were so this goes back a long way. fast forward to today. who is jeffrey pyatt? he is one of these state department high officials who does what he is told, presents himself as a ca officer. who is he? he was in vienna. what was he doing? to betrating the election head of the iaea, international atomic energy agency. because they did not like the guy they try to get rid of islier, that they knew -- it clear from cables, from vienna, from pyatt released by wikileaks, that pyatt was going insane amano is so happy for our support in making him head of the iaea and now he has asked us for a little more money because he would like to fix up his office. it is so apparent what state department types

he doesn't want to re-create the soviet union. he just wants them, in effect, to be part of an alliance with russia but where they essentially do russia's bidding, and he's trying to prevent them from moving to the west. he's been successful in doing that and breaking the deal between armenia and the e.u. he has been successful in getting the ukraine to yanukovich before he fled kiev to break the deal with the e.u. so he's trying to bring all these countries back into russia's orbit in a way that reflects a long period of history. i think that he's not -- as i say, i don't think he's trying to re-create the soviet union, but he wants the near abroad to be russian in every respect. >> charlie: why don't you think he wants to re-create the soviet union? first of all -- i understand there are places he can't do it, but poland -- >> poland was never part of the soviet union. it's part of the warsaw pact. first of all, he doesn't want all of the economic problems of those countries. ukraine is an economic basket case. so are some of th

and this is how it shrunk what the soviet union collapsed, which putin called, the greatest catastrophe of the century. his world view, shaped by the loss of an empire. >> he was born in a large soviet space that encompassed a huge part of theette's land mass. they call themselves soviet, by which they mostly meant russian. >> reporter: president obama said putin, quote, isn't fooling anybody. but putin is less interested in winning arguments than in shaping history. with thousands of troops on the ground and in control here in crimea, he is doing just that. diane? >> thank you, terry. >>> as you said, secretary of state john kerry was on the ground in ukraine. and abc's chief global affairs correspondent, martha raddatz, is traveling with him and joining us right now. martha, give it to us straight. is the united states closer to conflict with russia tonight or not? >> reporter: vladimir putin, the bully, vladimir putin, may already have gotten what he wants, crimea. so, it's very possible he won't push any further. this is the way that man negotiates. he is a bully. he is hammer-hande

the soviet union took the army out of eastern europe and dissolved the pact and we moved nato to central and eastern europe to the former soviet republics and tried toably in ukraine and georgia, he is saying get out of our face and space and that's why the whole kremlin got up and cheered and applaud and wept. >> he is at 85% approval because he shut down any voices of opposition in the media. they call themselves a democracy but it is not. it is a rubber stamp legislature. if that is the kind of country you aspire to, pat, we can set rules at the top and have no opposition. this is a selective reading of history but i am not unsympathetic. with nato after the collapse of the soviet union we pushed into countries he regarded within his area of province and perhaps we did overly provoke him but the notion that the u.s. is trying to encroach upon him and that this is a recreation of the cold war, what he is yearning for, he uses the word bipolarity when there were two super powers when he was the big man on campus. that's what he wants to be the center of attraction. i think the president

>> crimea is important because it was given to the soviet un n union, given to ukraine in soviet times and no one expected the soviet union to collapse. they are arguing that russia has a lot of secrets in the area. people here on the ground are half dozen of 1 and six of the other. some are excited because they are prorussian. 60% of the people are ethnic russians here. the other part of worried because they feel like they will be part of it. russian forces are here and vladimir putin made no bones about it and said they have the ability to be here. he is granted permission and said since russia maintains the military base, they can be here. a general oh, my goodness, what is happening, it happened so quickly. we definitely have a russian presence here. you see soldiers. the soldiers don't have the insignia, but they have matching uniforms. it's suspect to have thousands of soldiers with the same outfit. they are banded together and in the meantime we watch and wait. >> it seems to be a global cl z crisis not backing down. >> russia's intervention confronting president obama's foreign

but his view is one of the great disasters of the 20th centuries is when the soviet union went out ofbusiness. that is not the case, it is a great success story meaning that people in western europe and the republics of soviet union now live in freedom and a lot of them are under democratic governments. and they're sovereign, independent states and he needs to recognize that and clearly has failed to do that. the consequences are not addressed by those of us who have supported europe and nato in the past and the break-up of the old soviet union. it means big trouble. >> if this is not the end of his territorial ambitions here and you believe it is not over, what do you think -- what options do we have available in your mind? >> well, i think that we clearly do have a wide range of options. the important point from my perspective is that he be made to pay a very high price so that he is not tempted to do this begin. now, that can come in the form of economic sanctions and it can come in the form of destroying demand for his energy product. that is about half of his economy. with our ca

was bad bet history did not always say the soviet union was bad. the reality that has been reported by soviet refugees who came over, we have come to see regarding the new deal, there were communists and some her were reporting to moscow. when you become a historian and i have begun to look into it part of that because of hoover's work in the hoover archives, not everyone reported to moscow but some did, harry dexter white, who or what was wrong that the soviet union was evil or had some influence. >> host: one of the great mistakes of roosevelt, the recognition, diplomatic recognition of the soviet union in 1933 gave respectability, gave much easier access into american public life and in the 30s it was called the popular front and perhaps at one point members of the communist party in the united states concentrated and effective and energetic and so forth and hoover was worried about this, of this was pulling the new deal to the left. >> host: people fought hoover was hysterical, and we want to give him credit. he was not inaccurate about the econ

what is happening with russians living in the former republic of the soviet union? are they moving back to russia and what role do they play in russia's relations with the former republic? >> the kremlin would certainly like them too for sure and as a result they have done all sorts of things where they have created relatively hasslefree assumption of russian nationality for example for people who live abroad and claim russian heritage so it increases the virtual roles. not the actual roles because they are not in the russian federation but the trend line in economic and political terms is profoundly negative. a great example of this is at the tail end of the medvedev presidency the kremlin dreamt up this project of creating a high-technology hub outside of moscow. it was intended as a hub for technology, innovation and everything from software to biotech essentially the new silicon valley. and a tremendous number of russians or people of russian -- you are fantastic and the sciences and russia reached out to them and i remember this wasn't the sum total of the answ

we know that russia still has territory that is a part of the soviet union.territory that was stripped away as a result of history and as a result of political accident. vladimir putin himself talked about the collapse of the soviet union in the largest geopolitical catastrophe of the 20th century this leaning to reclaim the lost land to be given a shot in the arm by the land elsewhere as it begins to lose its eastern periphery to expand westward is going to be reinforced and if not still become simply unquenchable. you're going to see this sooner is it's very likely as you see the rise of the insurgent strain in places and the widening of the conflict between the russian state and the forces that they can't control. we are not talking about one chechnya we are talking about many. and this is what sounds like an overstatement. if you didn't watch the emergence of the conflict and its maturity its maturation over time took and has taken on a conflict of far larger proportions than was originally envisioned, and what im saying g is that trendlines you are seein

the standard history didn't always say the soviet union is that. wo of the discovery of part of papers with the reality reported by soviet refugees, we can't you see, for example, regarding the new deal that there were many people admit to yahoo! or communists were reported to moscow. that's a big change. since you become an historian and i've begun to look into it. part of that is possible because of hoover's work in the hoover archives. not everyone reported to moscow. for example, harry dexter white. so, hoover was in exactly wrong that the soviet union was evil or that has an influence. >> guest: the diplomatic in 1943 gave them respectability and much easier access into american public life and in the 30s were developed of the popular front. there is perhaps 1000 members to the communist party and united states. that may seem small, but they were concentrated in effective and energetic and so forth and hoover was worried about this and thought this is point the new deal to the left. post got it.was hysterical. he was not inaccurate and we want

. >> what used to be the soviet union. that's what we demand, and that's why we are here. >> it was a take over of the ukraine, now we have come here for justice so that russia will be the legal successor to the soviet union. we want to be back in the soviet union. >> reporter: in the capitol the new ukraine met in emergency session to discuss the russian backed in crimea. a disproportionate russian presence in the territory of crimea is nothing but a provocation. we clearly understand that the plan was to create a new assertion with civil war, blood. >> reporter: president putin asked parliament to formalize russian troops on ukrainian soil. meanwhile many mourn the deaths from independent square. where many were killed is now the blanket of flowers. the ninth day of mourning. now its events 800 kilometers away in crimea are worrying the people here. tim friend, al jazeera, kiev. >> let's go now life to phil ittner in moscow. russia seems to be using the crisis in ukraine to take back crimea. where is crimea so important

a lot of presidents had to deal with the old soviet union russia. how does his leverage compare to the other presidents? >> we have never been in this particular situation. remember that obama up until now and his predecessor -- all of his predecessors going back to ronald reagan -- were dealing with a late soviet union and a russia that was in a different place than putin's russia. going back to the time that margaret thatcher said gorbachev was somebody we could do business with. ronald reagan was able to cut some deals with them. gorbachev said we are going to have a relationship based on partnership. that continued from gorbachev into yeltsin. from reagan into bush 41 and into the early years of the obama administration. that era is now behind us. we now have overtly put a leader in the kremlin who does not believe the fundamentals of the u.s.-russian relationship and the relationship between russia and the west is one of partnership. he sees it as adversarial. it is a new ballgame. by going over what i think is the ultimate red line with regard

when you begin writing hoover said the soviet union wa was a d but history didn't always say the sovietunion was bad. since then through the discovery of papers in the reality reported by the soviet refugees that came over we come to see in the new deal who were communists or some who were reporting to moscow and that is a big change since you've become a historian and part of that is possible because of hoover's work in the archives. nonot everyone reported that wih some data for example henry dexter white. hoover wasn't exactly wrong that the soviet union was evil or that it had some influence. >> guest: he regarded the recognition, diplomatic recognition in the 1933 he said it gave them respectability and much easier access into american public lif life and in the 30s they developed what was called the popular front and so perhaps at one point there were 100,000 members in the united states. that may seem small but they were concentrate concentrated ae and energetic and so forth and hoover was worried about this and he thought that this was pulling the new deal to the le left. >> hos

also, about the soviet union and how it felt, it is important to remember that in 1991 when the soviet union broke up, -- i cannot remember who was head of delaware shut -- belarus. they teamed up to take his job away from him. that plays into putin's determination here. and i think we need to be, when we talk about the sanctions we put on, i think we need to be confident, careful, positive, but not frantic, like putin is sort of getting. >> roger, dr. brezinski said we should talk to him and explained to him about how we really feel about ukraine. will you listen, in your view? or has he already got an agenda? >> i think he already had a chance to listen. as far as i recall, secretary of state kerry flew to london just a few days ago on the eve of all of this and had several hours of talks with the russian foreign minister and they produced precisely nothing. i think president putin had decided a while back on this course and he has executed it. this is grave. this is the first act of annexation in europe since the second world war. another word for an ignition, of course -- for annex

they were expelled from crimea in 1944 by joseph stalin when, after soviet union took land from germany, he decided they had collaborated with the nazis and he wanted them gone. so, he gorted them to central asia. about half of them died along the way. >> so both sides, they throw in their lot with ukraine rather than russia. >> they have. you saw in the protests that happened in kiev during the past three months, several groups of crimean tar tares traveled to kiev. it's partly because as cry crimean tartars look at russia as the people who persecuted them. they are afraid of returning to russian sovereignty. >> they call themselves ukrainians today, people who lived as part of nations that are polish, lithuanian, russian, variouse ethnicities for a realy long time. >> it's a very historical question. the whole concept of nation came to europe, from the part of eastern europe maybe even in the 20th century. so, now, for ukrainians, it's for sure that, for instance, what you are speaking of, coming to russia from crimea, but came to ukraine and to mthe center o kiev, the capital city of

mistrust of russia has a historic history that reaches back to the creation of the soviet union. but it became more apparent after world war ii. people can remember doing drop drills where they took cover under their school desks in case of a soviet nuclear attack. as bob mackenzie showed us in this report in 2001 some people went a step further and built a shipper -- a shelter to defend them from the brother and sister. >> reporter: americans would have six or seven hours note to evacuate their city s if the soviets sent nuclear bombers. the plan was for at least 1 million bay area citizens to head north toward marin, napa and sonoma county. you can still see a concrete build constructed in the 50s with a basement containing what's left of a california state command and control center. communications gear of all kind, maps of all the california counties. lists of the shelters in every town, all gathering dust now. from this windowless room with 18-inch thick concrete walls, the governor of the state could presumably hunker down and direct rescue and shelter operations throughout

there's flags hammer and sickles on the square, people chanting about the soviet union.t's kind of a weird time warm we are in, yet the other half of the city is incredibly supportive. so, you know, it feels very, very tense here, and on friday night, a couple people were killed by the ukrainian nationalists, and that potentially is provocation that gives putin legitimate reasons, or at least the pretext. >> james jones reporting from eastern ukraine. thanks so much. >> thanks for having me. >>> and now the latest investigation into the disappearance of that malaysian 777 jetliner that went missing l.a. weekend with 239 people on board. a senior malaysian official said the pilot of the plane signed off the flight controllers without indicating any trouble on board, even though the plane's communication systems had already been shut down. that might indicate the pilot was actively misleading controllers, or that he was being coerced to do so. investigators in malaysia said today background checks of the passengers on flight 370 so far had turned up nothing, but they said

for more than 20 years since the break up of the soviet union and 60 years since crimea became part of ukraine. in 60 days dueling accusations have been flying quick and fast. the interim prime minister said that crimea is part of the ukraine, period. to keep track of the players, yes, do you need a score card. it is. ukraine's interim leaders create a national guard in an effort to stand up against russian aggression in the crimea region. members of parliament said that it has fewer than 6,000 combat ready troops and an air force outgunned 100- 1. while no shots have been fired the war of words has taken a tough tone. >> i remain the only legitimate president of ukraine and the commander in chief. did i not step down prematurely. i am alive. >> ukraine's ousted leader viktor yanukovych appeared for the first time since the russian intervention in ukraine and made a defiant statement from the russian town. he blames his foes for what happened in crimea right now. >> ukraine is going through tough times now. usual actions led to crimea breaking away so that even under the gun southeaste

and the soviet union had a communist government wanting universal application of com sue nichl. right now putin is the tough man running russia, but what he's interested in is running all what have used to be imperial russia, what used to be the soviet soviet union. there is no indication that he thinks he could run the rest of the world. so there a fundamental difference, but nevertheless, there a collision of interests right now that is going to have to be reconciled somehow. >> well, this is an unfolding story. far from over. come back to talk to us more. good to see you. >> thank you very much. >>> fox news authorities are now turning their attention to the pilots in the cockpit and passengers on board the missing malaysia airlines flight 370 as i was telling you with congressman peter king. there is into evidence that shows ce shows criminal activity may have played a role. hi, dominic. >> yes, the background of the captain being very sharply the focus here today. shah was an obsessive supporter of the recently jailed opposition leader in malaysia. he was actually jailed ju

annual break on the shores of the black sea, a chance to escape the daily grind of life in the soviet uniontired civil servant and his wife and children spent summers in the crimea, it will always be part of a mother land. tnchs it was a nice place for a vacation, warm, light, so romantic. another reason why the language is strong. chronically ill for most of his life. the crimea restoring him to health. trnchs my son learnt to swim, he became so much healthier, stopped getting sick all the time. >> it was back in 1964 that the crimea was lost to russia. the president loves the ukraine. he rose to ranks of the party, and with the ussr never stronger, handing over the peninsula was of little importance. it took 15 minutes of discussion. ukrainian and russian flags flying together, the gift delivered in a spirit of friendship and trust, as the people of the crimea, 70% ethnic russians celebrated. >> who would have believed in less than 40 years the old soviet union would have been swept away, and the flag that flew over land from eastern europe to the shores of the pacific had become a $10 to

you know i understand that too many westerners any invocation of the soviet union is negative but the soviet history was very complicated and pretty much a pretty diverse sure there were stalin's purges but it was the soviet leadership itself on there your own great grandfather that renounced that form of violence so the soviet union under stalin was very different from the soviet union on the who shot and there certainly very different from a modern day russia under putin so i wonder if drawing these new imperialist parallel system play a form of i guess fear of typing that relies on a very limited and sometimes very simplistic understanding of the soviet history i think that's a. certainly a very good point. for myself i want to say that when i draw this kind of parallels i absolutely try and do explain them and explain how although it is there are differences between the past and and today there are certain similarities because. regrettably lead you to putin does use the playbook of the grand empire in it's not just the soviet union is just generally the size matters and the size m

in our rush as the act of the soviet union and its policies at the concept that ideal that e between universities that she is nice as it gets independence plan movement claiming on wright's night that killed those two states with names on it to yanukovich and riots police got to substantially quiet a section of the population still prefer as being part of ukraine. we do not accept this minute reentry ocean might brush egg cafe vienna says this woman this type of people he doesn't accept cluelessness in particulaerendg carried out without any legal grounds. am i doing. mimi's if the referendum was organized in the right to a thick foreign accent isn't high quality ballots without throat yes i would've taken conti says. some opponents a baking tray and play pro russian activists statues of lenin of being toppled elsewhere in ukraine but the russian repetition read is venerated by many in crimea eagerly anticipating role from the kremlin in there's still no trace the missing men they cn lines like st seventh seal the two hundred and thirty nine people it was carried from one of them but

and who would have believed that in less than 40 years the old soviet union would have been swept away, and the flag that once flew over land from eastern europe to the shores of the pacific have now become a $10 tourist souvenir. the history and heritage of the former soviet union is now found on cheap t-shirts but there is a constituency who misses life back in the ussr. >> i think we can understand the feelings of those people who are very nostalgic over the soviet time, elderly people, and this is the backbone of the current support of crimea. it's not youngsters, but old people with their idea of lost feeling of nation which is part and parcel. [♪ singing ] >> reporter: people like alexander and his wife remember the summer songs from long ago. the weekend referendum can only bring one thing to them return of their much-loved past of mother russia. peter schauffler, al jazeera. >> meteorologist: a lot happening here in the midwest and this storm which is developing is pushing to the east. we have a lot of weather happening here in just a small area. warm temperatures with severe w

soviet union was bad. ince then through the discovery and part of papers through the reality that has been reported by soviet refugees who came over we have come to see for example in the new deal that there were many people in the new deal who were communists were some who were reporting to moscow. that is a big change since you have become a historian and i've begun to look into it. part of that is possible because of hoover's work in the hoover archives. not everyone reported to moscow but some did. for example harry dexter white. so hoover wasn't exactly wrong that the soviet union was or did have some influence. >> guest: hoover regarded one of the great mistakes of roosevelt that being the recognition of the soviet union in 1933. it gave him respectability and easier access into american public life. in the 30s they develop what was called the popular front. 100,000 members in the common estate. they were small but concentrated and energetic and so forth and hoover was worried about this. he thought t

putin knows what extremes can do to help bring down the soviet union.omething which he deeply regrets, bring down the russian state. they were at home at the time the russian revolution and begin with the collapse of the soviet union. he is trying to hold those off. >> looking at the question of extremist and anti-semitic narratives in ukraine and really putting evidence to the question, and would recommend that you very highly -- >> i would like to make a comment. i don't think you identified himself for just a couple of points. under agreement of the 1997 agreement with ukraine and russia, ukraine means -- rush is allowed to maintain certain support units in crimea. that was never in dispute. there was no indication at all about the new ukraine government was going to challenge that. but yet agreement to not allow the russian military to seize the airport, other points of entries, check with all of the island and basically occupied island, peninsula in a military way. those all go well beyond what the agreement permitted the russian military to do. ju

they do not want the old soviet union to be rebuilt. look at iran moving toward a nuclear weapon any of a president saying we should just all get a long. it would be great. there are people that do not like us and want to hurt our friends. look at what iran what to do. they want to eviscerate israel off the face of the earth. will we stand behind our strong ally or support policies that help iran envelop a nuclear weapon? -- develop a nuclear weapon? such a leadership void. it is one of the reasons why our economy is hurting so bad. americans have you been up looking for work because they do not have the confidence. to ukraine and russia, what specifically should the president have done that he has not done? >> they should have paid attention to the telltale signs months ago. i am not sure what the diplomacy has been all about. this is not something that just happened overnight. you had leaders like condoleezza rice warning about this months and years ago. you have mr. romney talking about rush as the number one threat in the world and

the chaos after the collapse of the soviet union brought

he said that the most disappointing event of the 20th century was the elimination of the soviet union. those are putin's words and he has this dream of restoring empire, reaching out to countries that used to be republics of the soviet union and members of the warsaw pact nations and trying to bring them back into the russian fold. we saw it eight years ago when he invaded georgia, took territory there. i've been there. i've seen it. behind the barbed wire in south owe serba, the -- owes isia, they are trying to protect the area of jea gea they seized. the same is true in crimea. that is putin's idea. if he can't winds the hearts and minds of neighboring nations, he'll take them over with russian soldiers, energy extortion. there was a debate in the senate foreign relations committee about whether or not we can come to the assistance of those surrounding nations that are being preyed upon by the russians and by putin. and do it with assistance through energy. we have now found in the last several years an abundance of natural gas in the united states. somewhat surprising. our country

russia, still, in a real sense, covets territories used to be part of the soviet union. stripped away as a result of history, as a result of political accident; right? putin, himself, talked in 2008 about the collapse of the soviet union being the largest geopolitical catastrophe of the 20th century, all right? this ideological leaning to reclaim loss lands is likely to be given a shot in the arm by the loss of lands elsewhere as russia begins to lose its eastern control, the impulse to expand westward, not in political terms, mind you, but in territorial terms is reenforced, if not become simply unquenchable. the second trend line is, and you're going to see this sooner, is it's very likely as you see rise of insurgent strain of extreme islam in places elsewhere in what's the eurasian heartland, there's a widening of a conflict between the russian state and the forces that they can't control; right? we're not talking about one chechnya, but many chechnyas, and this is only sounds like an overstatement if you did not watch the emergence of th chechnya conflict in its mat

one piece of the revision relates up to the soviet union.when you began writing he says the union was a bad history didn't always say the soviet union was bad. since then, the discovery in the papers have seen the reality reported by the soviet refugees who came over. we came to see for example regarding the new deal that there were many new people in the new deal who were communists or some who were reporting to moscow. and that is a big change since you've become a historian and i've begun to look into it. and a part of that is possible because of hoover's work in the archives. not everyone reported to moscow but some day the -- but some of them did. so he was not exactly wrong the soviet union was evil. >> guest: he regarded one of the great mistakes of roosevelt, that being the recognition, diplomatic recognition of 1933. he gave respectability and much easier access into a american public life and in the 30s they are developed in what is called at the popular front. perhaps at one point there were 100,000 members of the communist party

please remember russia was part of the soviet union and it was isolated as an economic system. it was aubl to survive, so that is why the u.s. will try to impose a situation that would be similar to what russia was living just in it. it will not have substantial effect on the russian economy. >> your point is the russian economy is familiar with being isolated from the of the world and can manage that better than other economies can? >> exactly. so i would not say it was better, but we have seen such countries like iran, iraq, north korea. they have sanctions for years, sometimes even for the kids. nevertheless, in those cases none of those countries was forced to change their behavior. so russia comes with much more diversified economy and stronger support from reserves and so on. that is why we can see a very prolonged battle without any clear results. >> you were part of the effort to open up the russian economy, to make it much more of a capitalist economy. how far down that road did russia get? >> okay. once again, the question is what exactly u.s. administration and the w

under control of the old soviet union nor decades and now they're free and independent states they depend upon united states for leadership. >> rose: what happened if the crimea,ns say they want to join russia. >> there's argument whether they can do that, among other things, the budapest memorandum of 1994. >> rose: there was unconstitutional coup in kiev. >> there is debate in a way, i don't know how it's going to unfold. i think putin he's got domestic problems at home. i don't think this is the situation where there aren't vulnerabilities from the standpoint. >> rose: also the energy weapon, too. can we in a sense provide the money and the energy to the people in ukraine so that there for they will feel less pressure from russia. >> energy is also a weakness for push a. they depend on petroleum for 50%. price of oil drops a few dollars they go in to recession. it accounts for most of the budgets and russian government. for him to be in talking about cutting all sales that's two-edged sword not necessarily mean it's going to create a bigger problem for the customer than it does for the

know that he said in 2005 the greatest catastrophe of the 20th century was the collapse of the soviet union project now is the eurasian union for the 21st century where he will rectify this alleged historic injustice to russia. and in order to do that, he needs to go and take territory that he considers as historic russian territory. such as crimea. it is a ukrainian territory. >> masha i want you to be able to respond to that. then we have to finish. >> you're quite right. he sees it as his historic mission to collect the lands back together that he sees as russian. that mission predates his 2005 statement about the greatest -- it doesn't mean he has a stat strategy, but he has a mission that he acts day to day. >> arielle, masha, i appreciate you being on. >> thank you. >>> up next on the program, from here in ukraine, republican senator lindsey graham says he links what's happening here in crimea to president obama's response to the benghazi attacks. dana bash caught up with him today. [ male announcer ] we know they're out there. you can't always see them. but it's our job to find them.

putin's aggression is reliving the days when the soviet union was an evil empire.t's reliving those days. mr. putin calls the collapse of the soviet union the greatest catastrophe of modern times. well, all of us surely hope he does not succeed in his intentions of restoring the soviet union, restoring that evil empire, restoring the cloud of oppression across europe and across the world. and we stand united with the people of ukraine and with the people surrounding russia in support of freedom and against his unconscionable act of war. madam president, i yield the floor. a senator: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from alabama. mr. sessions: i'd like to thank the senator from texas for his comments and for his eloquence. i believe he's touched on the right issue. i would just add one thing. i was in the ukraine about three years ago. a delegation was there. we met with state department people. we met with ti tymoshenko, the fabulous leader of the orange revolution. he had those beautifushe had ths in her hair, and she was concerned that she woul

even though america found out about the collapse of the soviet union on cnn. america learned the fall of the berlin wall on cnn. and america found out about saddam hussein's invasion of kuwait on cnn. but after all this, congress keeps pouring billions of dollars into that big sinkhole called the central intelligence agency. i say with a track record like that, congress doesn't need a budget committee, congress needs a proctologist. i think the record's real clear. congress should fire the cia and hire cnn. maybe we'll learn what's happening in the world. >> i still don't know what he meant by the proctologist thing, but that's kind of just the way he talked. that was congressman james traficant, democrat of ohio. he sadly is not even having one of his best hair days in that clip. james traficant's toupee, itself, is a thing of legend. james traficant was ultimately expelled from congress after convicted of bribery and false tax returns and racketeering and other corruption charges. he ended up serving seven years in prison. some of it without the hairdo. back