great deal of jeopardy potentially because, on the one hand we had an increasingly aggressive soviet union. they had already captivated a good deal of eastern and central europe. they were operating there, or satellites were, in africa. we had a soviet bastion in cuba, 90 miles off our shore. we had a marxist bastion in nicaragua. it was subverting el salvador. our own hemisphere was now under attack. it was a serious situation. that is why ronald reagan was so intent of, number one, getting a strong economy. number two, well the soviets were more aggressive, our military had declined considerably in the aftermath of the vietnam war. another important thing was to take on the military and build up the military to where we had traditionally been. during and since world war ii. finally, he believed it was necessary to engage the soviet union on a moral plane. that is why the evil empire speech and the focus of evil, that sort of thing, he felt that was important to raise those issues as it was to do the economic and military and diplomatic strategies. >> once again from your memoir, a vivid

edwin: the soviet union, brezhnev was on his last legs. as ronald reagan said, when it came to whether or not he would need with a soviet leader, he says i would meet with them brezhnev was on his last legs. t they kept dying on me. in 1985 he got a live one in gorbachev. that was very important. because at that time, gorbachev was a diehard communist, no question about it. but he also understood the west that are than his predecessors. i think he realized the united states by the time he became general secretary, he realized the american military was going to be the most powerful military in the world and it was a force was enough so that the soviet union did not have military superiority, which they had until that time. peter: one more question about your years on the national security council. we read here, this book, that book, another article. to my understanding, it is a kind of impressionism. i want to ask you to fill it in. bill casey with the cia is making sure solidarity -- he is working with the afl-cio to make sure solidarity ge

it would do him a good soviet union i don't know hearts to imagine soviet union as a place where a person would be happy oh my god oh my good people are so happy i remember mine with my own eyes your brain a bush it been a six hour we're really right but the countries that went towards western values developed better the countries that stuck to the ideology of russia and soviet union what's wrong with that i'm sure we have two hundred years under russia and we have will put the parents in the unhappiness oh my good said she your point of view please keep this point if you really are why do you ask me and not skills or why so what i am asking otherwise because it's a broke idea it was history of our country our beloved country georgia so if you want to expels these pages of history from your mind off your history it means you are doing very well wrong think you know because if you are expelling your past if you demolished your past you will never have a future. but i felt angry because moscow had an opportunity and this protest peacefully. i feel very patriotic and i think that it

ag meese: the soviet union, brezhnev was on his last legs. , when it reagan said came to whether or not he would be the soviet leader, he says, i would beat them, but they keep dying on me. in 1985 he got a live one in gorbachev. that was very important. gorbachev was a diehard communist, no question, but he also understood the west better than his present -- his predecessors. he realized the united states by the time he became general secretary, he realized the american military was going to be the most powerful military in the world and it was a force that was enough of the soviet union did not have military superiority, which they had until that time. >> one more question. let me read here, this book, that book, another article. to my understanding, it is a kind of impressionism. i want to ask you to fill it in. casey with the cia is making is workingrity -- he with the afl-cio to make sure solidarity gets funds, copy machines, and so forth. then judge clark and his successors as national security adviser's are getting information to the vatican. they are sharing information. walters

of the soviet union is certainly one of those. forthe soviet press agency decades had a presence in this building, i think from 1943, when roscoe recognize the soviet union everybody knew here, everybody in washington new, journalists, but it was a cover for espionage. to get the agency able away with this? was the fbi watching them or -- we are, weike, here are the soviet guys and everybody knows it. it was really remarkable. they were exactly where we are sitting. this corridor was not where we are. it was here or 20 yards down here. they had a picture of stalin and lennon on the wall in a couple -- >> both an enormous stance of the free press. >> yes. [laughter] his very earliest days it might not of been -- spying was probably a sideline and the main thing they were doing was collecting news or propaganda. they had a number of merit of -- of americans that works them. but it was transformed into an for espionage with journalism on top of it. the fbi, of course, was well are aware of it, at least from the start of the second wor

>> what is happening at the present time in the soviet union, the president was on his last legs and then you had the others, and, as ronald reagan said, when it came to whether he would meet with the soviet leader? he says i want to meet with them but they keep dying on me. >> [ laughter ] >> finally in 1985 he got a live one, and, gorbachev, and i think that that was very important. because, at that time, gorbachev, was a diehard communist, no question about that. but, he also understood the west, better than his predecessors. and therefore i think that he realized that the united states certainly by the time that he became a general secretary in 1985 he realized the american military was now going to be the most beautiful -- powerful military in the world and it was a force, that was enough so that the soviet union did not have military superiority, which it essentially had until that point. >> one more question about your years on the national security council. we read, this book, that book, another article, to my understanding, which is limited, it is kind of an impression is a m

the soviet union never stopped trying to sell itself as a union of equals but it never was. berlin is home to many hundreds of thousands of russians. every year on the ninth of may they come to trump tower park in berlin to celebrate soviet victory day. after two thousand and three we stopped celebrating the ninth inning and i'm very happy about it because it was not george's war it was a war the georgia second france a lot for but we would not be in this war if we were not occupied by the soviet union. overhearing their conversations and the things they're saying to their children is suggesting that for them this is more than liberating germans they're making it seem like it's russia's stick to. this is for them an opportunity to express their imperialistic dreams. they're still dreaming about a time when russia was so powerful that it could come all the way to berlin. the most uncomfortable thing for me is to witness the bikers known as the ninth wolves. they stand for everything i think should be condemned the occupation in ukraine the annexation of crimea and the continue

the soviet union never stopped trying to sell itself as a union of but it never was. berlin is home to many hundreds of thousands of russians. every year on the ninth of may they come to trump tower park in berlin to celebrate soviet victory day. after two thousand and three we stopped celebrating the ninth me and i'm very happy about it because it was not georgia swore it was a war the georgia second france a lot for but we would not be in this war if we were not occupied by the soviet union. overhearing their conversations and the things they're saying to their children is suggesting that for them this is more than liberating germans they're making it seem like it's russia stichter. this is for them an opportunity to express their imperialistic dreams. they're still dreaming about a time when russia was so powerful that it could come all the way to berlin. the most uncomfortable thing for me is to witness the bikers known as the ninth wolves. they stand for everything i think should be condemned the occupation in ukraine the annexation of crimea and the continued occ

the job was to try to reduce tension between the united states and the soviet union. one way he did this was by trying to persuade the kennedys that soviets intent into cuba were entirely benign. at one point president kennedy into theed bolshakov white house and told him, i heard you like to reduce tensions between the united states and the soviet union, i heard that khrushchev wants us to stop sending airplanes that are going to soviet ports to cuba, and we will do that as a way to reduce tensions. though ships were carrying missiles that were going to cuba. when the kennedys found out that there were missiles in cuba, one of the first things that cross bobby kennedy's mind, and he wrote this in a book, was that he was played by bolshakov and he was very upset. during the crisis in itself, the kennedy sent intermediaries to meet with bolshakov to use him as a back channel to the soviet leadership. president warned rogers was a great reporter and a much beloved person in the press club. there is a longer story in the book about it but to cut to the most interesting ep

so i think he felt a bit lost. >> the soviet people -- >> back home in the soviet union a progressionf economic crises were exacerbated by ronald reagan's determination to outspin the russians in defense and bring the ussr to its knees. >> mr. gorbachev, tear down this wall. >> the soviets and the kgb were reeling under tremendous strain and pressure from the west. >> soviet president mikhail gorbachev's attempts to reform the dying economy, glasnost and perestroika, were embolden's people behind the iron curtain to demand more liberty. for several years putin watched from a distance. in dresden. >> he missed out on perestroika. so the great breakthrough in terms of liberty is something he mentions, my wife and i saw this on television but we weren't there when it happened. >> but after the berlin wall collapsed in november 1989, putin soon came face to face with changes sweeping the soviet bloc. the following month he was inside dresden's kgb headquarters when protesters surrounded the building. >> putin takes a pistol from a security guard, he holds it up and makes clear he will sho

the soviet union never stopped trying to sell itself as a union of equals but it never was. erlin is home to many hundreds of thousands of russians. every year on the ninth of may they come to trump tower park in berlin to celebrate soviet victory day. after two thousand and three we stopped celebrating the month me and i'm very happy about it because it was not georgia swore it was a war that georgia second france a lot for but we would not be in this war if we were not occupied by the soviet union. overhearing their conversations and the things they're saying to their children is suggesting that for them this is more than liberating germans they are making it seem like it's russia stick to. this is for them an opportunity to express their imperialistic dreams. they're still dreaming about a time when russia was so powerful that it could come all the way to berlin. the most uncomfortable thing for me is to witness the bikers known as the ninth wolves. they stand for everything i think should be condemned the occupation in ukraine the annexation of crimea and the continued oc

and the soviet union. one of the ways he did this was by trying to persuade the kennedys that the soviet entirelyin cuba were benign. at one point, president kennedy called him into the white house and told him, i heard that you want to reduce tensions in the u.s. i heard that you what us to stop cuba.g airplanes to we are going to do that as a way of reducing tensions. when the kennedys found out that there were missiles in cuba, one of the first things that crossed bobby kennedy's mind was that he had been played. he was very upset by this. itself, theyisis sent intermediaries to meet to use them as a back channel. president morin rogers was a and a beloved person. there is a longer story in the book about it. to cut to the most interesting episode, he had found out, shortly after kennedy had gone on television and dramatically announced that was going to be an american quarantine around cuba to prevent them from shipping more missiles, the u.s. going to amass troops in florida for a possible invasion of

the soviet union was on its last legs. in december of 91, it ceased to exist. back in august, when the coops was lost, yeltzen suddenly appeared as the most powerful figure in russia. the bush administration and most persons, including a younger foreign corspendent named me believed -- made the mistake of believing that russia has become a democracy overnight. the same exact mistake americans made in 1917, believing that a corrupt, dysfunctional, incompetent government could overnight become a working, functional democracy. and that doesn't happen. it doesn't happen in 1917. and it didn't happen in 1991. and someday, i'm quite sure, vladimir putin will leave the scene one way or another and will probably have people then saying russia at last is a democracy, thank god for that. in the meantime, what do we have in russia? what kind of partner, as american administrations through the last 20 years tried to call the russians, what kind of partner are the russians? this is a memorial to [indiscernible] who was shot dead in her apartment house in 2006 on putin's bir

tonight as president gorbachev resigned and or to an end seven decades of communist rule in the soviet union. the years after the disintegration of the u.s.s.r. became known as the crazy ninety's in all the post soviet territories. he's leaving behind fifteen independent states which share only a disastrous economy and an uncertain future after having been under a government controlled economy the free market dramatically changed the rules of the game new business has emerged instantly in the fur. all the guards were born overnight. the former country with no class division suddenly became stratified the chosen few became rich while the rest had to fight to survive. so as it was the palestinians they say mr bush was. a what does that say. though of the hopes listed when using your phrase in the world. so well as opposed to pollution is a. good. a less than human you to do little good reason you know it is the will to stay in the new doesn't mean you know dumbass i will. post the system might be good bush and ideas from president bush will be as one that will eventually you will still at the

>> the soviet union in the 1970's was on the march. it was involved in helping to bring about communist takeovers in many countries around the world. you mentioned indochina. the soviets were heavily responsible for the north vietnamese victory in south vietnam. and their propaganda apparatus was a huge part of it. the north vietnamese generals declared the fundamental reason , maybe that decisive reason for their victory, was the effectiveness of their propaganda and psychological operations against the united states during that war. then you had procommunist coup in south yemen. he hurt communists takeovers in mozambique and angola. you had a near communist take over in namibia. he would a communist take over in grenada and another one in nicaragua. there was soviet-cuban subversion all over latin america. much of this is documented in the grenada archive, which nobody studies anymore. these were the internal documents of the movement, when we invaded grenada, we got a hold of their internal documents, which had black on white agreeme

>> the soviet union in the 1970s was on the march. it, it was involved in helping to bring about, communist takeovers in many countries around the world. you mentioned endo china, the soviets, were heavily responsible for the north vietnamese victory in south vietnam. and, their propaganda apparatus around the world was a huge part of it, the north vietnamese generals declaring that the fundamental reason, the principal reason, maybe the decisive reason for their tree, was the effect goodness of their propaganda and psychological operations against the united states. during the war. then, you had a group in south yemen, takeovers most of them, a near communist takeover in the -- there were soviet cuban subversions all over latin america much of this is documented, the grenada archive, which nobody studies anymore, but, these were the internal documents of the movement, when we invaded, when we invaded we got a hold of their internal documents, which had black on white, agreements, soviet and east german, and cuban military assistance,

communist looking for the soviet union to help them. the world is comprised of only liberal democracies so this an and -- disenchanted people inside the democracy have no for an ally. as soon as -- liberal hegemony is all about. it's a highlight. [laughter] >> i think there are three big highlights. the first is the books doctrine. the bush doctrine is all about spreading democracy in the middle east. iraq was the first stop on the report. syria, iran, and so on. course, there is catastrophic failure. it's hard to describe. second, nato expansion and you expansion. their efforts of -- to take those two institutions, nato and eu, march them up to russia's doorstep. create a giant zone of peace and western and eastern europe. this led to the crisis, most americans believe russians responsible to be -- the crisis. united states responsible for the crisis of the ukraine. we thought foolishly, we were thinking like liberals, not like realist that we could actually march in alliance there was a moral enemy of the soviet union right up to russ

does not care what the soviet union did czechoslovakia. that is one way we can use our moral influence with the soviets to indicate to them that what we do want to have negotiations with them and have early relations, that we must make it clear we also have a concern for the 150 million people that live in middle eastern european countries. the most emotional experience of all my travels abroad -- the polish people. i never forget after i came back from my -- mr. kirchoff. we stopped in warsaw on a sunday afternoon, 150,000 polish people came out that day. they threw flowers of the car, they stopped many times in the heart of the city -- long-lived the united states, along with poland. that was two years after poland went behind iron curtain. when there people like that in the world, the united states well we was not -- while we must not do something that will set off a nuclear confrontation, we must also make it clear that our thoughts are with them and we're going to use our economic and diplomatic strength to support their desire and fre

or soviet union/war saw pact.hatever you want to call it, it was this part of the world that was, in a sense, the defining part of the world in many ways for the way americans for the last half of the 20th century sort of approached our world responsibilities and the way we looked at the world. and so my introduction at that time from jim billington was about as good as you could get. and it served me well through a career. but i want to talk a little bit about jim as librarian and policy developer, maker, implementer and guide. a lot's been said about the library here, but i would simply make a couple of points as someone who had a diplomatic career about the library. i think everywhere i with went somebody had a ministry of culture. americans don't have a ministry of culture. but in a peculiar way, the library embodies the idea of a ministry of culture without being that. in my view, the library is, in a sense, the repository for the expression of the american people about what they've been, what they are, what

that presented the soviet union with the prospect of trumping its potential -- either complete or partial first strike capability with nuclear weapons. the military buildup that huge pressure on the soviet military economy. people talk about a crisis in the soviet economy. the principal crisis was in the military economy. the crisis in the civilian economy started in 1917 and it was the inability to keep up with us technologically that compelled the soviets to experiment with different types of reforms, but they never could do reforms gorbachev for example never decentralized his economy even as much as crew shot did. -- khrushchev did. we deprive them of energy earnings by stimulating the saudi's to increase energy production. we had a massive security program to deprive them of technology. we supported the anti-communist resistance movement in afghanistan thomas central america, southern africa. all of those are material things. they were incredibly important. none of those material things explain how a million people can take to the streets of moscow. in 1990not explain how -- it does

over on the east, the soviet union looked around the nuclear gun barrels. i believe the soviet leaders do not want a nuclear war. that we have in common. i believe when we have reestablished our strength, there should be a very carefully planned series of meetings between the president of the united states and the leader of the soviet union. and that series of meetings should deal with all of these problems. you cannot settle them all in one summit. take them off one by one, but all on thed they are plate. if the soviet union sees the danger of their continuing to support forces of aggression in the mideast, if they see the danger of a confrontation, they may hold back some, but they will not see that danger unless they hear it directly from us, in my opinion. i would say that in other areas, too. in other words, the soviet union 's interest in avoiding a world war is greater than their interest in expanding communism, as great as that is. we have got to make it very clear to them if they continue to probe in areas like the mideast or western europe, that t

london welcome to worlds apart it took a quarter of a century since the collapse of the soviet union for the issue of inequality to resurface at the center of political and economic debate this time in the west some would even argue that it has already sparked a populist revolution culminating for now with the bracks it was the election of donald trump well the western quest against inequality being more successful than the soviets one well to discuss that i'm now joined by jason hicks anthropologist at the university of london and author of the divide a brief guide to global inequality and its solutions dr he called it's good to talk to you thank you very much for your time thanks for having me now you know i come from a country reach for seventy years had to run a massive experiment in their advocating inequality and many people here in russia believe that this fixation on inequality ultimately made the soviet system. incompatible with reality to what extent the opposite is true if you abandon any regulation and leave it all to the market forces can you have a harmonious well funct

the soviet union never stopped trying to sell itself as a union of equal but it never was. berlin is home to many hundreds of thousands of russians. every year on the ninth of may they come to trump tower park in berlin to celebrate soviet victory day. after two thousand and three we stopped celebrating the ninth me and i'm very happy about it because it was not georgia swore it was a war the georgia second france a lot for but we would not be in this war if we were not occupied by the soviet union. overhearing their conversations and the things they're saying to their children is suggesting that for them this is more than liberating germans they're making it seem like it's russia stichter. this is for them an opportunity to express their imperialistic dreams. they're still dreaming about a time when russia was so powerful that it could come all the way to berlin. the most uncomfortable thing for me is to witness the bikers known as the ninth wolves. they stand for everything i think should be condemned the occupation in ukraine the annexation of crimea and the continued occ

made a report for the pentagon claiming that the chance for the soviet union to collapse are unlikely because they said countries used to make mistakes but they really commit suicide. so, from this point, they collapse and it created an atmospheric betrayal which is the way the russians were seeing the world, feeling betrayed everything is a kind of operation, but in the 90s it continues for a long time and the democratic institutions have been used, first, imitating democratic institutions to reduce the pressure on russia coming from outside. secondly, and ideally, this is quite important before 2011, that you have rigged elections but the interesting stories the following, and there was an article which years ago we did and this was a, ask yourself, for example in 2004, why president putin would rig the elections if they were free and fair, why is he raking it in a way that everyone knew it was rigged? it's not that he's rigging in a way that no one knows but the elections are rigged and everyone should have no doubt that it's rigged elections. and from this point, rigged elections

if the soviet union removes its missiles from cuba, the u.s. its rockets from turkey. >> and basically kennedy says, look, we'll make an exchange, but we don't want any recognition of this in the press. this has to be absolutely secret. >> secrecy is critical. if the press or the public find out the kennedys are removing u.s. missiles from turkey, it would be political suicide. >> bobby is essentially saying, you've got to help us out of this because my brother's got these generals who are pushing him to do something that isn't good for us and isn't good for you. >> the russian ambassador writes up the proposed deal. he sends it to moscow the quickest way he can. >> they send a telegram, and there is this incredible sight of the telegram boy on his bike ride off with this telegram aimed at saving the world, hoping that the fellow doesn't stop and have a coca-cola and go see his girlfriend. >> so here's bobby kennedy in a sense having it both ways. on the one hand making a trade, and on the other concealing it, and they got away with it. >> pres

a lot of welcome to worlds apart it took a quarter of a century since the collapse of the soviet union for the issue of inequality to resurface at the center of political and economic debate this time in the west some would even argue that it has already sparked a populist revolution culminating for now with the bracks it was the election of donald trump well the western quest against inequality being more successful than the soviet one well to discuss that i'm now joined by jason hicks anthropologist at the university of london and author of the divide a brief guide to global inequality and its solutions dr he called it's good to talk to you thank you very much for your time thanks for having me now you know i come from a country reach for seventy years had to run a massive experiment in their advocating inequality and many people here in russia believe that this fixation on inequality ultimately made the soviet system. incompatible with reality to what extent the opposite is true if you abandon any regulation and leave it all to the market forces can you have a harmonious well functi

that was directed really at the soviet union. there was a chinese port of war in 1969, around the with theth a soviet -- soviet union. it was a massive change and anna nordqvist when for the united states. noticing,hout us russia and china have now reversed that. , in whichof triangle the soviet union was so far that is not the same. sanctions are now on both countries. you have a trade war with china. there is a big discussion now in washington about how bad news is this for the united states? carol: help us understand the role the current u.s. administration has played as a catalyst. it feels like a new development. >> there are two things to say. it is not all president trump's fault. that beganething under mikael gorbachev. a long time ago. it did not really amount to a great deal until around 2014. crisis betweenis the west and russia ukraine. russia, very consciously, tried to pivot to china. they started negotiating to build a gas pipeline. sense, but they had been negotiating for decades. they could not agree on price. th

from the early days of the soviet union films needed to be socialist high quality and display soviet superiority the politburo both supported and censored artists and the innovations of soviet filmmakers names like eisenstein . became known and celebrated the world over these days films no longer hold the media monopoly they wanted but that has not stopped the kremlin from taking an interest in shaping the country fanatic out. what russians are calling keenness gun dolly cinema scandals have grown all too common. be on your guard girl you got through. the two thousand and fourteen russian film leviathan won both a golden globe and oscar nomination at home the film was criticized for painting an overly negative picture of russia eventually a version with less explicit language was allowed to screen was. one that failed to get past the senses was a british film armando iannucci is two thousand and seventeen a satire of the death that started our general secretary is lying in a bottle of ingenue. who didn't make himself available for an interview with us because the film an insulting mo

. >> america and the soviet union are locked in a titanic ideological struggle. the u.s.terrified of the spread of communism as it reaches the nation's backyard. cuba is under the control of the fiery revolutionary fidel castro. >> he was not only a communist and a marxist, but he was going to align himself with the soviet union on an island 90 miles from the coast of florida. >> the moment jack becomes president, the cia present him with their plan to bring down the cuban leader. >> the bay of pigs was a plot that was hatched during the eisenhower administration. the idea was to train some cuban exiles to invade cuba on the assumption that on their arrival there would be a popular uprising and fidel castro would be thrown out. >> kennedy was suspicious about the viability of this plan and the wisdom of this plan up until essentially the last moment. >> reluctantly jack gives the go-ahead for the operation with one crucial condition. >> he did not want it to be clear that the united states was supporting this. he wanted it to be a quiet invasion. >> it turns out to be an

the western one but i wonder if you see any historical continuity between the collapse of the soviet union and the triumph of neoliberal economics back in the early ninety's and such a sharp rise of inequality a quarter of a century later yes i think it's quite clear that with the collapse of the soviet union in the late and the late it is. the there was a kind of ideological consensus around near liberal globalisation and that was carried on through the night tonight is and is still with us today and the consequence of of of that sort of the imposition of free market globalization has been a dramatic increase in inequality. since the eighty's and ninety's which is really rich kind of catastrophic historically unprecedented levels and so when we call for a reduction in inequality in western societies for example it doesn't need to be the kind of dramatic aggressive attempts to equalize that we might imagine the soviet union attempted rather was calling for the kind of reduction in equality that was accomplished in fact in western societies like the us and britain during the post-war years

in the soviet union families with children enjoyed round the clock support. yet today child benefits are so complicated to apply for those fatter is given up. most of us look at the state plays hardly any role in raising children just two hundred roubles in child benefit so the state simply doesn't take care of family is. a village street party in. west better lives. the court is expected to announce a verdict in a few days time inspector could be able to start a new life as a captain on the volga. rather i support women who want to become captains we need women to be present everywhere and even be allowed to become president. other women calls for a feminist for many people in russia. back on the stick that set out always tells us her grandmother was a tractor driver a man that's just an observation here thinking that. a woman is a woman and a woman should be an enigma and not an open book or captains a captain a public person. a woman can't do that she should be more modest in the. growth or lower that with the media not that equitably with men as captains

and the holy see, the soviet union of confined to the ash heap history in 1991. a strong reagan forged personal relationship with pope john paul ii, and also an important diplomatic synergy between the u.s. and the holy see. this alliance continues today. although our governments are faced with different challenges, they are equally great and perilous. the necessity of our partnership did not end with the fall of the berlin wall. our work with the holy see remains critical to responding to humanitarian crises, to safeguarding human rights, and to mediating and preventing conflict and violence. the reason is simple. the vatican's input is real and respected throughout the world. today, the catholic church is engaged on every continent, advancing human rights, alleviating suffering, and educating those most in need. they are also the largest provider of health care services in the world, combating the spread of epidemics like a bola and -- ebola and other diseases. credibilitycess and in the world's most troubled areas. the holy see also has the second-largest dipl