next, it was a great surprise to the american government when the soviet union tested their first atomic bomb in 1949. into national spy museum historian vince houghton talks about soviet spies who infiltrated atomic bomb research. museum andtional spy smithsonian associates cohosted this 90 minute event. >> we are delighted to have our own historian. dr. vince houghton. he is the historian and curator of the museum. he holds a phd in military history from the university of maryland, where his research centered on u.s. scientific and technological intelligence in the second world war and the cold war. it makes them ideally suited to deliver today's talk. he also got his masters degree focusing on the relationship .etween the u.s. and russia you may get some questions focusing on our current difficulties with russia. on thetalked extensively history of u.s. intelligence, diplomatic history, the cold war . he is a u.s. army veteran, serving in the balkans where he assisted in civilian and military intelligence activities. we are delighted to have you as our speaker. please help me welcome

descriptiontailed tothe fat man plutonium bomb soviet union. the bomb that went off, the first soviet atomic bomb was almost mirror image of the nagasaki fat man bomb. so hall's information directly led to this design. he also gave them a lot of information about the little boy hiroshima bomb. the uranium based nuclear weapon. theuding what we call critical mass. this is the amount of the amount, the uranium necessary to a chain reaction. this is a calculation that not toy took the americans years figure out, but actually is what derailed the german atomic bomb program. out just couldn't figure the critical mass. they made some math errors and they thought the critical mass be huge. the americans took time to figure out what it was. paul handed this over to the soviets. they didn't have to do a lot of the calculation. provideds he information about the next generation of nuclear weapons. about boosted fission weapons eventually about the hydrogen weapons. then there is pontecorvo. someone that is a little more controversial as far as his atomic

it is soviet union. it doesn't happen that way unless it is assigned to you for various reasons it isn't going to happen. somehow in her interested, slightly delusional mind, she decides to learn french and get the paris and meet the guy and say hi, i made it on my own. she went to learn french and left her children, one of them was my mother, she left them with the khrushchev in 1942 and said i don't want the children anymore because they mess up my life. once again we tried to be normal. but we are russia we cannot be normal. well, don'ts -- don't laugh, it is true. house education and workforce committee countries have nine time zones? we have 11! the first lady of russia was trying to pretrend we were modern and squeezed it to nine. from finland to japan -- that is a lot of countries. we do imagine the world not the way it is. we are all guilty of that. so we try to be normal as i said. my birth mother, and i know and loving her although i didn't write about her in the book. so french didn't work out

what are the goals of soviet union or china wanting to accomplish in the united states through their party connections. for china it simply invited the connection with the u.s. communists but were the soviets interested in using chiels to gather init'll generals for them or on some way the domestic front fox brings up how intelligence is youth but this could be explored further. that the fbi pursued the double agent, doubled country approach well beyond what the fbi was supposed to be doing in the area of domestic security as we understand it under lieps what we know about the agency expanding role in the 1950s. they released the counter intelligence program that went after martin luther king, jr., college students and others, another huge skmankmangs of its jurisdiction. they largely used it to intimidate people. what did the agency do with the solo material in today and you have begun to tell us, but we love it learn more. in the aftermath of snowden's revolution of the u.s. government surveillance on america and the government charges that he too was a spy, the workings of the surv

what are the goals of soviet union or china wanting to accomplish in the united states through their party connections. for china it simply invited the connection with the u.s. communists but were the soviets interested in using chiels to gather init'll generals for them or on some way the domestic front fox brings up how intelligence is youth but this could be explored further. that the fbi pursued the double agent, doubled country approach well beyond what the fbi was supposed to be doing in the area of domestic security as we understand it under lieps what we know about the agency expanding role in the 1950s. they released the counter intelligence program that went after martin luther king, jr., college students and others, another huge skmankmangs of its jurisdiction. they largely used it to intimidate people. what did the agency do with the solo material in today and you have begun to tell us, but we love it learn more. in the aftermath of snowden's revolution of the u.s. government surveillance on america and the government charges that he too was a spy, the workings of the surv

crisis and reopen that whole confrontation with the soviet union. in some of his military advisers warned him, the soviet union was not as weak in 1975 and 1976 as it was in 1962. and the possibility was that the soviet union would not retreat in the same way. >> and thanks to our most demented foreign policy in the history of the phrase foreign policy which is our cuban policy, you have vladimir putin going down to cuba trying to reopen the assets which he's capable of pulling off now because we continue to maintain this crazy closed door with cuba. >> it's been almost 15 years since the collapse of the soviet union and the breach of any relationship between russia and cuba in any significant way. that was a window of time for the united states government to get in there, normalize relations with cuba and give cuba every incentive not to turn back towards putin and not be to beholden with any issue in russia at this time. but we have barack obama, he has not taken up this challenge yet. we have an article coming out in the "nation" magazine next we

he served as the eighth and final leader of the soviet union. nobel peace prize in 1990 his role in ending the cold war. >>> the country's largest flight attendants union is saying not so fast. the union plans to argue in court today that expanding the use of devices during takeoff is dangerous. they say the electronics can distract passengers from safety information. the case goes through a d.c. court this morning. >>> teachers across the state of maryland are expecting a big announcement later today. we're talking about the teacher of the year. the 24th annual maryland teacher of the year gala takes place this evening. seven teachers, including some from our area are finalists. one will be named teacher of the year. howard? >> we've got some rain around. you're seeing the showers. they are to the south on doppler 9000. generally south of town for another couple of hours but a better chance this afternoon that we're going to get into some widespread showers. highs today in the 60s. showers tonight into early saturday but the rest of saturday and

he said that the collapse of the soviet union was with the greatest tragedy of the 20th century.e has invaded georgia, he has really ramped up russian propaganda, targeted russian speaking communities around russia. and i think he does have this imperial mind set, he wants to see speakers inside russian territory. he wants to have them dominate the immediate neighbors. and he wants russia to be respected and fears as a great power. >> is that oscar johnson why they don't even torment co one a good execution when they send jets over astonian air space? that it was just a stray, just a mistake, and let's move on, does anybody believe that. >> well, no, i wouldn't say so at all, because if you look at the jets, they -- i mean other countries fly with a wide security margin. which means they almost cross with with the danish earlier in the swedish signal intelligence, yet they were ten-meter evers away from. i think when it comes to the great power view, in one sense, it's quite normal, i don't say justified but quite normal that russia as a great power, would try and push the bounda

which caused the soviet union to move 42 divisions to the chinese border. and then mao looked at this as a practical problem of statecraft. how do you, do i protect my state against this? and the united states was the only available partner. i don't know whether i put this in the book or not to. the persistence of the tradition always of thinking is shown by this episode. in -- nixon and to some extent i from the first day in office had concluded that an attempt must be made to bring china into the international system. >> as i recall, he wrote a piece for foreign affairs before he was ever elected that hinted at that. >> i beg your pardon? >> nixon wrote a piece in foreign affairs -- >> yes, before he was elected. >> there was a hint in the midst of the normal -- [inaudible] that this was on his mind. >> absolutely. and the title was the middle of the cultural revolution. so it was very hard to know at what door to knock even to get a dialogue started. with but the, what the internet i wanted to mention, the cia wrote periodic reports about -- [inaudible]

[speaker not understood] she talks about how in the soviet union the bureaucracy of the soviet union came to feel that the state was private property. that is a natural tendency of bureaucracies as they think they own thing. rec and park doesn't own the open spaces of san francisco. [ applause ] >> they are there to administer that open space, but they do not own it. it's not theirs to sell or give away. the other thing that is true of the bureaucracy of the soviet union they felt it was their job to decide what was best for the people. it was their job to decide how people should live their lives and use their open space and everything. it's not the job of rec and park or the commission, but their job to facilitate what the people decide is best for themselves. this system isn't working. it isn't working. it's broken down. we should not be coming here, pleading our cause to ask you for stuff. the open space of san francisco needs to be controlled by the neighborhoods, period. it should not be controlled by bureaucracy. it should not be controlled by a commission appointed at-large.

he studied navigation and, of course, in the soviet union have to study the history of the commonest party and the world socialist movement and all those other fun subjects, and he would always get b. .. was a very interesting boy. and every bit of humanity he showed was considered at the time as a bad soviet. he was a bad communist. he was often put in aviation school always detained for a horrible crime as wearing his thick hats backwards. you know, like will smith fresh prince of bell air? for that he would get five day of detention. and what i found in a letter and interview that when the war was raging on and he was told russian airplanes were not great construction. you know it this isn't a great construction. it is efficient. so those planes were not great construction and not really good to protect the pilot. they were efficient in fighting the nazis. so his head was always sticking out from this cock pit so he invented a helmet and it was the soldier's hard hat and then the pilot had above it. so it protected them. my mother didn't keep the letters, but if i didn't have enou

and we supported what became al qaeda and said that they will punish the soviet union and the soviet union will be thrown out of afghanistan. what can be worse than that? well, we ended up with the taliban and al qaeda after doing that and i said to the committee when we were going into iraq but this is a wrong war in wrong place and wrong time and we have a mission for al qaeda that did us harm on 9/11 and they said i don't understand you, general, what can be worse than saddam hussein to well, look at what we have in iraq now. what do we have in iraq now? saddam hussein was evil and bad and can something be more evil and wars? we are learning that lesson. so sometimes be careful what you wish for because the outcome could leave open ending up in a worse situation. in the military we are certainly not perfect but we study every single battle in every fight that we have been in and everywhere that we have been thrust into and we spent a lot of time some lessons learned and we want to understand what we did wrong or right and where the threat is. we spent a lot of time trying to get i

and caused the soviet union to move 42 divisions to the chinese border.then he looked at it as a practical problem in the states. how do i protect my states against this and the united states was the only available partner. the perception of the traditional ways of thinking is shown from the first day in office they had concluded that the attempt must be made to bring china into the international system he wrote a piece called asia after vietnam and there was a hand in the midst of the normal. >> china was in the middle of the cultural revolution, so it was very hard to know to get the dialogue started. but they wrote periodic reports about what they might do and they published the report and it is now available. they published a report in early july, 1971 while i was on my way to china which said it listed all the arguments i just made of why china should look to the united states but they concluded with this could not have been while he was alive. so one has to wait until he's dead. today we know that it couldn't have happened and that he was alive. >>

i gather the soviet union was not impressed by this argument. they took notice of this. 14 years later in beijing things change. the question is when you hear the iranians talk as they do, is it useful to point to an example like the evolution of china, the fact that longtime enemies now are at peace with each other? even in northern ireland, 800 years of violence has eased. should we take those examples and say all right, let's see what happens in iran, maybe they will leave golf out of their current reason and come to a more westphalean view of the world? >> westphalean section was warmly to describe how an international custom came into being. no serious person thinks you can apply exactly the same principles. what you can apply is to ask a question of the basic units in touch with each other and by what method are they involved with each other and how do they communicate with each other and what is it they should try to achieve together? now, it is of course possible that this evolution occurs. but it is not possible that as an american lead

to a certain extent it is let the soviet union. ownership does not matter. connections matter. putin as all the connections and they have an interest in him staying in power, you can't have -- may be as sanctions -- none military. but the chance that the oligarchs going to keep barreling down, especially giving signals. does not matter who owns it. not going to get putin. >> i think there are two pauses of possible outcomes to sanctions in addition to a range of negatives. because of possible outcomes to sanctions. one is that we will set them against each other. i would imagine that the u.s. government in talking about sanctions doubt that this was a positive thing be instead of having a stable, unified leaders why don't we stirred up and see what happens. so there is that. it will decrease the stability of his stolen power. thing that that is regarded by those governments that have gone through with sanctions as pulse of the. there is also a second. maybe this is just a fanciful positive outcome be in the book i talk a lot about these ideas of the transition from authoritaria

it was part of the soviet union. riordan to that, during hundreds the current ukraine was divided between the polish partnment and the eastern was largely part of the russian empire. -- speaking the same language, they developed because theys eastern part is orthodox and the western part is a mix. currently, what is happening in ae ukraine, they are forming well-established nation and we hope that they will do it in a peaceful way. >> ok. >> the microphone on the left, please. to askme warn eveone sue saint questions -- assis succinct questions. >> [indiscernible] second, the breakup of had states recognized by russia. kosovo's membership to the -- united nations. what principles are russia defending now? taken by force and that was the big problem. there was very difficult history at this time. kosovo was -- you have roots kosovo was part of serbia that the serbs considered to be holy. anduse of the historical other natural processes, the grown andpeople has they felt they became the majority. they have a problem wi

during that time the policy of detente in the soviet union orchestrated the opening of relations with china and successfully negotiated the paris peace accord that accomplished the withdraw of american forces from vietnam for which he won the nobel peace prize in 1973 and parenthetically the gratitude of this young attendant in the united states army. thank you mr. secretary. there are countless other honors including the presidential medal of freedom, the medal of liberty and the national book award for history for the first volume of his memoirs, the white house years. his new book, world order is a shrewd and comprehensive analysis of the challenges of building international order in a world of differing perspectives, violent conflict, burgeoning technology and ideological extremism. and if you will learn about the westphalian peace and you will be led on a fascinating exploration of european balance of power from charlemagne to the present time, islam and the middle east, the u.s. and iran, the multiplicity of asia and the continuing development of u.s. policy. in my business the

i was delighted to hear your call to respect independence of the former soviet union countries. at the same time since the end of the cold war, russia says that the right for privilege interest in these countries, former soviet union. can you please specify what exactly does this thing privileged interest? and could it be the reason why ukrainian crisis has started that russia wanted to employ this, some kind of veto power over decisions on national development for ukraine? thank you. >> look, i am a professional diplomat, 14 years in my experience, and i know how to read papers and i know how to read papers. kidney one statement, i was minister for four years and then i was three years secretary at the security council. give me one statement, my statement, speaking about some privileged interest of russia in that country. if you give me i will answer you, but you cannot give me. this is, you really must -- let us use statements, documents, and then i will answer you. we don't have any privileged interest in these countries. we have to respect -- personally, i was presenting the

the orbital sciences racket was literally using a 1970's era engine left over from the soviet union, never successfully used in the soviet union, that was mothballed and discovered by orbital sciences. they tried to fix it up and use it. an engine filled with hydrocarbons, that was waiting for decades to be used. very different, rather than cutting edge new science. it was literally something that was 40 years old. >> i am going to bring in pimm fox to talk about the differences in these. obviously, the orbital rocket is almost the case of sitting on a itb and hoping you can set off the right way, whereas this virgin galactic engine and the engineering of the craft is very different. >> you are talking about a variety of different propellants. talk about a livid propellant, it is about the mixture you have to get exactly right, and it gives the operator of the craft more control in terms of the throttle, being able to define the mixture in order to control the flight. engine,olid fuel rocket you have got different issues. typically, as you described, it is almost like trying to light

the soviet union.he soviet union was defeated, mission accomplished, people walked away. they overlooked a small detail at the time, fanatics called al qaeda that were in the caves of afghanistan. only to discover years after that that they were very vengeful and very dangerous. in the context of syria and the conflict in iraq, a lot of enabling in the environment was creating these terrorists and these extremists. we are paying the price. the consequence of broken a consequence in the regional order, the rivalry between the turks, the iranians, and the saudis. the alienation of sunni communities. all of this combined has led to the emergence of this scourge and very serious and profound challenge to everything we stand for. >> and the seats go back to the iraqi war. >> i think the iraqi war, you are talking 2003 -- >> al qaeda in iraq. >> al qaeda in iraq. i pose to you the question about s inmic extremist afghanistan, how it was overlooked and then became a contaminater to political discourse in that

it has been 23 years since latvia left the soviet union.ce then, we are nobody's. >> many russians in latvia disagree with riga's policy towards its larger neighbor. in the lead up to saturday's election, the government has campaigned against russian aggression in ukraine. >> we used to be friends with russia, but what now? latvia is building a wall between us. >> many of latvia's russians are beginning to support the coleader of the left-wing party called latvian-russian union. she backs vladimir putin's policies on ukraine. >> our rights are being violated in ukraine. our rights are being violated in latvia. and in many other ex soviet republic. the west is using us to provoke a new cold war between europe and russia. >> in the center of the country, the mainly ethnic latvian population supports ukraine. many remember when moscow sent tanks against their independence struggle in the early 1990's. the annexation of crimea has latvians worried about putin's support of separatists in former soviet states. >> i'm very scared. so many russians

. >> this would have been a very serious confrontation with soviet union. >> it's very possible that the united states was planning another world war iii. >> and to remember, kids are not merely adults, they are developing humans. >> in the midst of a violent confrontation from the chinese government supporters. >> we begin with the latest on the ebola sair tha scare that iw broadening to other areas of the country. howard university says they are evaluating a patient for the virus. that nearby shady grove they had isolated a patient with flu-like symptoms and travel history that matches criteria for ebola. >>> crews decontaminate the apartment where thomas duncan had been staying before he was admitted to the hospital. and at the white house, officials hold what is called a heated press conference. where they assure reporters that there virus. >> are you sure there won't be breakdowns similar? >> dr. anthony fauci said the battle against the virus will not end soon. >> we have a case now and it is entirely conceivable there will be another case. >> dallas, and diane eastabrook. good

tallinn has modernized at an astounding rate since the fall of the soviet union.iness district shines with the same glass and steel gleam you'll find in any modern city. yet nearby are the rugged and fully intact medieval walls, and the town within these ramparts has a beautifully preserved old-world ambiance. among medieval cities in the north of europe, none are as well preserved as tallinn. the town hall square was a marketplace through the centuries. its fine old buildings are a reminder that tallinn was once an important medieval trading center. today it's a touristy scene, full of people just having fun. through the season, each midday, cruise-ship groups congest the center as they blitz the town in the care of local guides. like many tourist zones, tallinn's is a commercial gauntlet. here there's a hokey torture museum, strolling russian dolls, medieval theme restaurants complete with touts, and enthusiastic hawkers of ye olde taste treats. woman: [ laughs ] steves: but just a couple blocks away is, for me, the real attraction of tallinn -- workaday locals

and this, if you go back to what i said earlier, if germany becomes a great power of the soviet union, these countries are there for picking, because they were nationalistic, each one had at least one-third of other races within them. and they all wanted to rule on their own and wilson never visited the battlefields once, never understood what the war was about. and i hate to say it lloyd george and clemmons came out the winners in versailles. >> i think it's important to take a closer look back at the four years that were world war i. how to describe that war? history channel asked some historians and authors to give it a try in one word. >> if i had to choose one word to describe world war i it would be cataclysmic. >> the one war would be catastrophic. >> transformational because nothing was the same once the war was over. >> the one word to describe world war i is destructive. >> i would choose the word mistake, stupid, that's how i would encapsule late the first would war. world war i did not have to happen. there was no inherent reason, it literally was dumb. a person during wor

, he thought the greatest tragedy was the collapse of the soviet union. what do you think was the primary factor behind the rise? >> i don't think he would have risen had it not been for his desire to acquire more and more prerequisites of power. there is greed amons the group at the core. when -- amongst the group at its core. when we see choices, they made choices that served the economic interest of the larger group around vladimir putin. one shouldn't underestimate the importance of the new nationalism. you can't go to the population and say "i'm corrupt", please keep me. you are using the new nationalism as part of it, extensive and successful propaganda campaign to cement his position. >> we saw it in crimea, eastern ukraine and georgia. the irony is he attacked the oligarchs, only to create an oligarchy of his own. you wrote 35% of all of russia's wealth is held by 110 people. >> right. these are not my statistics, but the results of a report issued by credit suisse last year about global wealth. they highlighted the situation that emerged in russi

and there is a theory that the customs union is basically reconstituting the soviet union. set us straight. is it? [laughter] >> well, well, i don't know. again, you are speaking about theory. tell me your sources? is. [laughter] >> a lot of them are right near washington d.c. [laughter] >> because, look, custom -- first of all, you may, if you want, you cannot reconstruct soviet union. p.m. .. it's not political organization. what i will try to explain the european union when i -- that's why what we need is establish relations. and then everything will be clear. i repeat, this economic unionization. now you need custom a union. i cannot see why you need common market with european union. it's clear that time is integration. all countries want more markets, more space for the economy. that's why also why russia u.s. on one side kazakhstan, the other side russia. why russia cannot have custom union. this is normal in economic development of modern world. and to understand this you have to work to populate that structure and then you'll know exactly about which we are speakin

resources to help the mujahideen defeat the soviet union. and the soviet union was defeated. mission was accomplished. people walked away. and overlooked a small detail at the time, seemingly small detail, fanatics called al qaeda. that was thought of as insignificant in the case av -- -- of afghanistan, only to discover fierce, after that, that they were very vengful and very dangerous. i think in the context of the conflict in syria, and i have to also admit the conflict in iraq, the ongoing conflict in iraq, a lot of enabling environment was created for these terrorists, for these extremists to flour shall. and we're paying the price. it is a consequence of broken politics. it's a consequence of sirius cracks in the regional, the rivally between the turks, the iranians, the saudis, alienation of various communities, particularly the sunni communities. all of these combined has lead to the emergence of this, what i call a scourge an a very serious and-- . >> rose: a scourge and a very serious. >> an profound challenge to everything we stan

was pressed, truly pressed, by its allies, not the soviet union, fulfill thiso role, the united states had experience in the role. uslains why when france told to leave, we did, because the umpire is not there to take the place of the states, it's there facilitate the functioning of the states. so what has been the all of this for the united states and the world? because being an umpire is a difficult job, and the consequences, when you get it wrong, can be terrible, whether it's south korea, or south carolina, because our was in southr carolina, began in south carolina. been mixed.ts have i think in many cases the united in someot it right and cases we got it really wrong. the u.s. held the line in west out veryd that turned well. south korea, as well, we're still holding the line in south korea. what looked at the time like a similar line in south vietnam, and that was a terrible mistake, terrible disaster. of we've had to make a lot terrible and hard calls. misdiagnosed03, we of massweapons destruction. and we did function as an not an empire. cite they isez canal crisis. defended t

and sometimes, as we have seen in the case of the united states and vietnam, soviet union and afghanistan and so on, current trees with nuclear weapons lose wars against countries without nuclear weapons so all of that much more complicated than the nuclear weapons being a detevents. >> from upland, california, eric, good morning, welcome to the conversation. equal caller: yes. thank you. i have a question for the good doctor. i will be very quick. the united states is the only country to use the atomic bomb twice and, also, the united states tells other countries what this can and vrnt have. so my question. do you think the united states should take the lead in disarming nuclear armament here before she tells other countries they can't have any? it was in january, 1946. resolution 1.1 calls for the ab olition of nuclear weapons if the kennedy did famously in 1961. president reagan in meeting m k mikel gorbachev and obama in his practicing speech connected these two things the caller mentioned, the united states's moral responsibility as president obama called it because of the use of nuc

to defeat the soviet union, western powers poured lots of money and resources in to defeat the sovietnion. was defeated,on mission accomplished, people walked away. they overlooked a small detail at the time, fanatics called al qaeda that were in the caves of afghanistan. wereto discover that they very vengeful and very dangerous. -- in thentext context of syria and the offlict in iraq, a lot enabling in the environment was creating these terrorists and these extremists. the price is the consequence of broken politics. rivalry between the turks, the iranians, the saudi's. it is alienation of the sunni communities. all of this combined has led to scourgegence of this and very serious and profound challenge to everything we stand for. >> and this goes back to the iraqi war. >> i think the iraqi war, you are talking 2003 -- >> al qaeda in iraq. >> i posed to you the question about a islamic extremists in afghanistan, how it was overlooked and then became a contaminate or to the political discourse in that part of the world. regime under saddam hussein committed genocide against the kurds

i was happy to hear abandonment of former soviet union countries. since the cold war russia insists it has rights for privileged interests in these countries of the former soviet union. can you specify what exactly does this mean, "privileged interests." and could it be the reason why ukrainian crisis has started that russia wanted to employ this -- some kind of veto power over decisions on national development of ukraine. thank you. >> look. i am professional diplomat. 40 years of my experience. and i know how to read papers and i know how to read statements. give me one statement -- i was minister for four years, then i was three years secretary of security council. give me one statement, my statement, speaking about some privilege interests of russia in that countries. if you give me, i will answer you. but you cannot give me -- this is you read in mass media, in pres press. let us use statements, documents, and then i will answer you. we don't have any privilege interests in the countries. we have to expect -- i ratified this one. i was presenti

great ally in trashing india over and over again because india is neutral or friends with the soviet union and so this is a seminal look at what we did at the foreign-policy years, nato policy, adm and all of this are part of it too. want to pick up from that? >> most of the points, for me where i fit into this was a decade ago i decided what has been written on the nixon tapes, so many books over the years, talk about the tapes, watergate, the tapes released over 40 years and we sit here in 2014, 800 hours, the total number lbj made it, 700 to 800 hours haven't been released so we continue to learn a lot of new things about richard nixon. there will be other big books like the ones you're interested in here today being written for many years into the future and what i did, my contribution is digitizing this and making it available to the public, digitizing all these real recordings ever made in the white house and putting them on a website, nixontakes.org. our book is down the middle. we just want to make these tapes available. even with these big books, big nixon books published this pas

and we supported what became al qaeda and said that they will punish the soviet union and the sovieton will be thrown out of afghanistan. what can be worse than that? well, we ended up with the taliban and al qaeda after doing that and i said to the committee when we were going into iraq but this is a wrong war in wrong place and wrong time and we have a mission for al qaeda that did us harm on 9/11 and they said i don't understand you, general, what can be worse than saddam hussein to well, look at what we have in iraq now. what do we have in iraq now? saddam hussein was evil and bad and can something be more evil and wars? we are learning that lesson. so sometimes be careful what you wish for because the outcome could leave open ending up in a worse situation. in the military we are certainly not perfect but we study every single battle in every fight that we have been in and everywhere that we have been thrust into and we spent a lot of time some lessons learned and we want to understand what we did wrong or right and where the threat is. we spent a lot of time trying to get it ri

next, it was a great surprise to the american government when the soviet union tested their first atomic9. into national spy museum historian vince houghton talks about soviet spies who infiltrated atomic bomb resear

>> putin's goal is to make certain that russia extends influence in the countries of the soviet uniondud ubid in theid ukraine is part of his read the us would not take action. -- i think we ought to be providing aid. pricing and paints -- by sending them tanks? >> it is important for us to strengthen nato. i would resurrect the issue of missile defense. we had been engaged in negotiations with them on missile defense. if they are going to behave the way they are now, we have to resurrect the prospect of missile defense. lastly, we have to develop over the long-term another source of energy for those countries in europe and the former soviet union. really selling energy abroad as fast as we should. >> we will be the largest energy supplier in the world. >> we should make use of that to give them another source of energy. >> iran. will there be a deal? >> i would like to hope and pray there will be a deal. >> what does your analysis tell you? you know how far apart they are. >> i do. i have always had concerns about iran and their intentions around the world. secret, i have seen the po

some of them have a lot of military background and the soviet union times, from afghanistan. sometimes people have served together in ukrainian components interact. so there are a lot of people who know what the military job is to do it professionally. >> yes, sir. >> how al. but after an errant, good, welcome. it is worldwide. i just want to make a statement and you don't have to respond. >> what are you going to speak of? >> on matters of holy matrimony, they russian orthodox church and the roman catholic church meet, pray we might and we might enable to schedule from religious classes so to enhance their religious skills of some of our very own united states supreme court justices. thank you. >> i understand it's more a statement rather than a question. it saves me because i'm not religious myself and it's difficult for me to give an educated view. next question, please. >> you mentioned before international law and i was wondering if i could ask you, what does russia see developments or problems in international law or the law of armed conflict and birth anyway do you thi

soviet union. interest of the larger group around putin.bus one shouldn't underestimate the importance of the new nationalism. he can't go to the population and say look, i'm corrupt, please keep me. he's using the new nationalism as parts of an extensive and very successful propaganda campaign to cement his position politically. >> right, we've seen this in crimea, in eastern ukraine and in georgia. he attacked the oligarchs only to create an oligarchy of his own. almost all of the wealthy of the russia is held by just 110 people? >> this is not my report, credit suisse, about global wealth, they highlighted the situation arising in russia in which there's the largest wealth inequality of any country in the world, of any country in the world, that's a lot of countries where there's a lot of unequal distribution of welt. >> you are characterized it as, an astounding amount of wealth they had managed to grab for thethemselves. how much of an effect is that having on putin and his circle? >> none of them is very happy. so they've all withdraw

forces conducted a series of joint military exercises designed to send a cold war message to the soviet union, which shared a 1400 mile border with iran. documentedlawar was in this episode of "the big picture>' it is a persian word meaning courageous. the united states and iran or allies until the overthrow of the shot in 1979. >> iran is a distant land, halfway around the globe from the united states. it is -- it security is a vital concern to our government. centralber of the treaty organization, iran is an important link in the defense of the free world. she shares a 1400 mile border with russia, who has thought a warm water -- socked a warm water port in the area. armyugh iran has a fine that she would require immediate assistance from her allies in case of invasion. in order to prove the ability of airborne support, the united states and iranian forces planned a joint exercise called delawar. this successful far-reaching exercise is the first of its kind on this scale. ♪ my father's kingdom extends far to the south where a man cannot live because of the heat and northward to where he ca