the chief economic advisor to vladimir putin, from 2000 to 2005, and was vladimir putin's personal representative to the g8 and is a senior fellow at the cato institute. i have to start with the trump comments. what is vladimir putin trying to do, injecting himself into the presidential race? >> i don't think it's a real intervention into the race. it hay come later. clearly he expresses support from mr trump, and is referring to positive comments that trump made about vladimir putin. it could be, using the wards of trump. a productive relationship. >> now, regarding the trump comments, a russian american journalist who is no friend of vladimir putin is quoted as saying vladimir putin respects fighters, aggression and not calm and deliberation. he wants a manly adversary. in that way do you think the trump comment were a non-too subtle dig at president obama? >> mr president obama is not participating in the presidential election next year. it's a hards interpretant in this way. definitely among the candidates for presidency, mr trump looks like the best possible choice for vladimir putin, it is

it's about vladimir putin and the soviet union. we'll begin taking those calls in just a few minutes. >> you just said soviet union. >> i'm sorry? >> you just said soviet union and putin. yes, there is something about the soviet union, but it's mostly about russia. >> i apologize. you know what, i apologize. >> it's quite freudian. we do understand that putin has been trying to sort of resurrect, you know, the soviet empire. it's not accidental that many times he said the collapse of the soviet union was the greatest political disaster of the 21st century. >> let's go back to your book. the soviet union existed in 1991. what was that year like for you and what was vladimir putin doing in 1991, when the call came down and the soviet union started dissolving? >> i don't think anybody knew the name vladimir putin until he appeared in moscow as the head of the kgb in 1998. before, he was the right-hand man of the st. petersburg man. i was in st. petersburg in 1996. i couldn't recall, you know, meeting putin there. he was a good kgb man.

i will not vote. >> big deal. >> vladimir putin would like to be staring down as the next president of the united states, it should come as no surprise that putin wants his rival on the world stage to be the most ignorant president in history. >> it's an amazing statistic. the press is going to have to check it because what do i snow. >> here's what vladimir putin said about donald trump. >> translator: he is a very flamboyant man, very talented. no doubt about that. he's the absolute leader of the presidential race, as we see it today. >> donald trump once again proved his stunning ignorance of the world by saying, it was an honor -- that was his word -- an honor to be complimented by the imperialistic dictator of russia. he also called vladimir putin highly respected. those were trumps words, highly respected. needless to say, trump supporters in the media and elsewhere did not attack donald trump for calling vladimir putin highly respected, the way they would obviously attack any democrat or anyone else in politics for calling vladimir putin highly respected. now that putin has seen

vladimir putin helps russia to achieve that. vladimir putin is talking. he is key to any toll sues we'll keep an eye on this. if anything come comes out of it we'll let you know >>> tens of thousands of syria has been put forward. human rights said is verified the pictures smuggled out. they document the death of some 6,700 people. over several years they died in custody, and in two military hospitals around damascus. this is one of the case makers. custody, an anti-bashar al-assad song was on the cell phone. his picture was amongst the photos. we blurred his face out of respect for the family. >> translation: it was him, akmed with a number. akmed was a sole. he was a number. people were beaten and tortured. bashar al-assad spoke about the photos. he dismissed them as allegations without evidence and said they could have come from anywhere. the deputy director of human rights joins us. we know, confirmed by you, that these come from syria. tell us what you know about the pictures, and what they tell us? >> indeed, this report answers the fact that the al

i was, at one point, a big ally of vladimir putin. and after this whole thing happens, and as i continue to do exposes of corruption, i'm no longer exposing his enemies. i'm exposing his own personal financial interests. and-- and on november-- 13th, 2005, as i was flying back to russia, having lived there for ten years, become the largest foreign investor in their country-- i was stopped at the vip lounge of sheremetyevo airport. i was locked up overnight. and then i was deported the next day and declared a threat to national security, never to be allowed back into russia again. at that point it became obvious to me that putin's interests had diverged. >> then things get-- go horribly wrong. the-- the-- the russian government goes after you. and they start going after some of your aides and all that. and you slowly manage to divest your interests-- your-- your investors' interests. you get your money out, which is great. and you get your staff out, in most cases. and you leave a few key people in russia who are not your employees, bu

we are getting tough talk from vladimir putin that seems to escalate. the turkish side is backing down. what is this all about. >> the turkish side is not backing down. it is not escalating. they slapped a bunch of sanctions. but ankara did not reciprocate that. the turks are trying to downplay - they are trig to don't play. the turks are not interested in russia escalating the situation in syria against turkey, the russians have started to move in support of the kurdish forces in northern syria, that turkey is quite worried about. there's a number of things that turkey is not interested in escalating in russia. having said that, vladimir putin is not exactly the parr knew i can madmen that some characterise him, or the sort of subtle statesman that you expect of a world leader. this speech was a cornerstone speech. as i mentioned earlier, this was a george w. bush moment for vladimir putin, he portrayed the world as a world of insecurity and terrorism with russia and russian values needing to lead. basically saying to turkey and others, you are with us

loyal supporters with weapons that vladimir putin had supplied them with. putin's imperialist campaign in europe forced a recognition for anyone not yet convinced that we're confront ago challenge that many had assumed was resigned to the history books. the strong militarily capable russian government that is hostile to our interests and values and seeks to challenge the international order that american leaders of both parties have sought to maintain since the end of world war ii. that's why the congress imposed tough sanctions against russia, especially against putin's cronies and their enormous -- and enormously corrupt business empires. as part of that effort, congress passepassed the fiscal year 2015 national defense authorization act which restricted the air force from using russian-made rd-180 rocket engines for national security space launches, engines that are manufactured by a russian company controlled by some of putin's top cronies. we did so not only because our nation should not rely on russia to access space but because it's simply immoral to

russian president vladimir putin's strong words for the u.s. and turkey. >> ankara will regret what it did. the russian president vladimir putin vows to impose more sanctions on turkey over the shooting down of the russian jet. >> hello, welcome, my name is peter doby. i'm in doha. u.k. war planes attack isil targets in syria hitting their ole folds. plus. >>> why would he do that? why would he do something like this? >> shock and disbelief after a mass shooting in california. the couple suspected of murdering 14 people have now been identified. >>> fifa's corruption scandal continues. swiss police arrest two more officials. >> we begin in moscow where the anti turkish rhetoric continues to catcher chet up. the russian president vladimir putin said ankara will regret the shooting down of a russian jet near the syria turkish border. he accuses turkey of supporting terrorism and promised a tougher response. he was speaking at his annual state of the nation address. >> we are not planning to engage in military saber rattling but if anyone think th

and vladimir putin was very, very open, and really threatened turkey. he said basically we have moved the air defense system into syria. and that is the most advanced air defense system in the world, picking up aircraft 400km away. it is fully operational speaking to the turkish president. do not attempt to fly into syrian air space, as russia's position as the power broker, everyone wonders the impact that this is likely to have on ukraine. he was saying that it's an economic drain still. >> that's right. once again, vladimir putin cut to the chase and answered the question that everyone would put to them, are there russian troops in eastern ukraine. we never said that there are no people dealing with military issues there. this does not mean the presence of regular russian troops. feel the difference, he's calling on kiev, and on the militia in don bass to try to reach a political effort in line with the minsk two agreement signed earlier in the year. >> all right, thanks for that. vladimir putin is still talking, we are keeping an eye and ear out to

year of thethe monkey, instead of a whole year of vladimir putin. get in touch with me and some of the team on twitter. we love to hear from you. thank you for watching. >> funding of this presentation is made possible by -- the freeman foundation, newman's own foundation -- giving all profits from newman's own to charity and pursuing the common good, kovler foundation -- pursuing solutions for america's neglected needs, and hong kong tourism board. >> want to know hong kong's most romantic spot? i'll show you. i love heading to repulse bay for an evening stroll. it is the perfect, stunning backdrop for making romantic moments utterly unforgettable. i've lived in this city for years, but hong kong still makes me fall in love with it time and again. >> "bbc world news" was presented by kcet los angeles. captioning sponsored by newshour productions, llc >> ifill: good evening. i'm gwen ifill. judy woodruff is away. on the newshour tonight, deadly flooding from the mississipi river forces evacuations in missouri and illinois. also ahead, after decades'

vladimir putin holds his annual press conference. he says the move into syria will continue until a political conference starts. a mistrial is cleared -- is oflared in a baltimore trial the police officer accused of killing freddie gray. also coming up, janet yellen's gift to the markets and investors rejoice as america raises interest rates for the first time in a decade. a look at the latest on that without business editor, stephen carroll. -- with our business editor, stephen carroll. molly: those are the top stories this hour. thanks for joining us. russian president vladimir putin is holding his annual end of the year press conference. he has been addressing a range of issues from the russian economy to ukraine, even the world of sports. speaking earlier from moscow, he spoke on the syrian conflict, saying russia will continue its military operations in the country until the syrian people begin the political profits -- the political process. he also touched on operations with turkey, saying that he sees no possibility overcoming

the fact that vladimir putin has taken any time to talk about it. , donald trump is the frontrunner. but it really does add something to his campaign. i mean, this gives him more positioning. no matter what putin says. >> the gravitas effect. >> positioning how though? >> i think it makes him more of a serious candidate. >> it elevates him? >> it elevates him. if putin is talking but, putin is not talking about the three of us tonight. he just isn't. >> world leader to world leader essentially. >> it does elevate him. >> but5 you do have serious policy differences, i mean if you look at the front running candidates whereas trump has said hey, i could sit down and talk with putin. rubio has been pretty clear that he believes we shouldn't have any coordination with the russians involving syria. let them bomb, let them go. there are real policy differences especially as what we are talking about how much we should be coordinating against isis, which is the threat i think americans care most about right now. >> i think it's actually good that there is so

trump said that he had no plans to change his approach. >> nicole: president obama meeting with vladimir putinines in paris and after the half hour meeting putin saying that he and mr. obama have a shared understanding on how to move into a political settlement in syria. lawmakers in his country will hold debate tomorrow on who britain should launch air strikes in syria. >> it is right for us when the action we have taken is successful in iraq, it shrun and right to extend that action to syria. >> nicole: president obama scheduled to hold a news conference this morning. we will carry it 8:45 eastern time. >> cheryl: stocks in asia are higher today. let's take a look at the asian markets with tracy chang. reporter for chinese state television, good morning, tracy. >> tracy: good morning, ladies, asian markets much higher today. composite gained after international fund, officially included in ims starting next october, and the news boost in hong kong, 1.8% but the newest manufacturing pmi shown yet another month of decline. in tokyo, japanese shares are seeing green as well. that is despite per

let's move on to vladimir putin, you got that praise from vladimir putin this week. called it a great honor. you said you always felt fine about putin. how can you say you felt fine about vladimir putin when he backs our adversaries like bashar al assad and backs iran and he invades ukraine. >> i have been an extremely successful dealmaker. that's what i've done over years and i know people because deals are people. and i think i'll get along very well for the good of our country, for the good of our country, this is what i want, make america great again. i believe i'll get along fine with putin and i believe i'll get along fine with other leaders. obama doesn't get along with putin. putin can't stand our president, and it's causing us difficulty, and, frankly, and i said it a long time ago, if russia wants to bomb the hell out of isis and join us in that effort, i'm fine with that absolutely. i think that's an asset not a liability. so, if putin respects me and if putin wants me to call me brilliant and other things that he said which were, frankly, very nice, i'll a

he knows how to work with images. >> classic vladimir putin. jill dougherty reading between the lines, thank you. >>> heavily rebels launches attacks in northern iraq. the most intense fighting in months with the terrorists using car bombs and bulldozers to attack the kurds north and east of mosul. u.s. military officials responding with a 17-hour air attack. the pentagon says 18 kurdish fighters were killed. >>> a pennsylvania man arrested and charged with providing material to support isis. they found weapons magazines and ammunition last month when the fbi searched the home. calling for violence against them and american citizens. authorities say he helped people looking to travel overseas to fight alongside isis. >>> looking to get into the magic kingdom? you have to pay a lot of money for tickets and you may have to pass through metal detectors first. disney deciding to beef up the entrances. security is a major concern in the wake of the san bernardino attacks. we get more from cnn's alina machado. >> reporter: boris and alison, universal

do you think that vladimir putin is the kind of guy you want saying nice stuff about you? certainly a leader and a pivotal person and i think what it may be is the fact that mr. putin is showing respect to a person that he understands has the strength to match him. and i think when you talk about the russian mindset and vladimir putin is the personification of that, i think maybe it's reflective of the fact that there is a respect there that perhaps mr. trump is the only person in this race that can stand up to mr. putin and i think he maybe is acknowledging that. >> but what about the knowledge? it came up in the debate the nuclear triad. >> let me -- >> go ahead. i have talked to a lot of people on that. i'm 29 years in the military. i spent my time working on planning for the nuclear triad. nobody probably knows that better than i do and a lot of areas here. and i guarantee you there weren't three people on that stage who knew what the nuclear triad was. >> i think it comes down to where we see the american people. i think the american people are very, very strong about

if vladimir putin has this endorsement, so be it. ump says he gives him an "a" for leadership, that's exactly what he said about putin, that should concern me and it should concern every voter out there. look, ronald reagan got along you could say with gorbachev pretty well but he never gave him a grade "a" on leadership. he confronted him on communism. different than what this relationship seems to be. >> mark, trump just talked about this today in iowa. and he said, well, don't see why we can't just get along with russia and russia and the u.s. come together and fight our enemies together so it all doesn't fall on the united states. that resonated with the crowd. >> of course it resonates with the crowd. so does cotton candy. so does kumbaya, so does holding hands. >> come on. >> it's a lack of sophisticated geopolitical knowledge. the question isn't can the u.s. and russia partner on projects. they do that all the time. but at the very same moment, you have a proxy war being fought in syria. a strategic battle between united states

russia's vladimir putin is all about projecting strength. t his shirtless horseback riding is about. so it should probably come as no surprise that putin admires the gop candidate obsessed with winning, saying this about donald trump. >> translator: he is a very flamboyant man, very talented. no doubt. >> reporter: prompted by the fact that other gop candidates slam russia's leader for intervening in syria, trump praises him and welcomed putin's statement saying, it is always a great honor to be so nicely complimented by a man so highly respected within his own country and beyond. but outside of russia, most world leaders are concerned about trump rather than complementary, especially after his call to ban muslims from coming into the area. >> we have to ban the muslims. does that make sense, by the way? >> reporter: britain's prime minister took the unusual step of slamming trump from the floor of parliament. >> i think he's remarks are divisive, stupid and wrong and i think if he came to visit our country i think he would unite us all again

listen to what he said. >> i don't respect vladimir putin.e leader of an important country. certainly not a region power as barack obama called him. to get praise from vladimir putin is not going to help donald trump. >> you have to wonder if anybody is going to seep into donald trump and break up the support he's getting. do people realize when we talk about vladimir putin and the support he is giving to trump and the love fest he is giving back to trump. >> and his ship is still sailing despite the controversies. it is interesting the way bush is approaching this. treating trump like a celebrity. saying he is entertaining, but not serious. at the debate, he went after him saying he is not serious and he is not really a viable candidate in a general election. it will be interesting to see how jeb approaches this in terms of the pledge of support that no matter which republican candidate gets the nomination, whether or not bush will continue supporting him. it is something his campaign has explored in several states. will bush support trump i

loyal supporters with weapons that vladimir putin had supplied them with. putin's imperialist campaign in europe forced a recognition for anyone not yet convinced that we're confront ago challenge that many had assumed was resigned to the history books. the strong militarily capable russian government that is hostile to our interests and values and seeks to challenge the international order that american leaders of both parties have sought to maintain since the end of world war ii. that's why the congress imposed tough sanctions against russia, especially against putin's cronies and their enormous -- and enormously corrupt business empires. as part of that effort, congress passepassed the fiscal year 2015 national defense authorization act which restricted the air force from using russian-made rd-180 rocket engines for national security space launches, engines that are manufactured by a russian company controlled by some of putin's top cronies. we did so not only because our nation should not rely on russia to access space but because it's simply immoral to

vladimir putin. now we have a new statement for donald trump about what he thinks about this putin endorsement. stay with us. >>> "anderson cooper 360" brought to you by hinan airline. cherish the experience in the sky. you won't find the brand pharmacists recommend most for cold and flu relief at the shelf. advil cold & sinus is only behind the pharmacy counter. ask your pharmacist for fast, powerful advil cold & sinus. relief doesn't get any better than this. the market.redict... but at t. rowe price, we can help guide your investments through good times and bad. for over 75 years, our clients have relied on us to bring our best thinking to their investments so in a variety of market conditions... you can feel confident... ...in our experience. call a t. rowe price retirement specialist or your advisor ...to see how we can help make the most of your retirement savings. t. rowe price. invest with confidence. wheall i can think abouthit, is getting relief. only nicorette mini has a patented fast-diss

this after vladimir putin threatened more sanctions saying turkey will regret its actions. >> hello, i'm maryam nemazee, you're watching al jazeera live from london. the u.s. president talks of better gun control after another mass shooting rampage. on the front line the u.s. military will open up all combat roles of female soldiers. >> guilty of murder with the accused having criminal intent. >> oscar pre-torous is found guilty. >>> and europe piano space agency launches a new research mission to find out how gravity works. >> hello, russia and turkey's top diplomats have met for the first time since turkey shot down a russian warplane last month. sergei lavrov held talks on the side line security meetings in belgrade. afterwards they said it is unrealistic to expect the problems with russia to be resolved after one meeting, but it is important to keep communication channels open. lavrov said he heard nothing new from his turkish counterpart. >>> well, hours earlier russian president vladimir putin warned turkey leaders that they'll live to regret shooting down the jet. president vl

so you have this on the one hand and other hand, which is what vladimir putin is very good at doing. on the money pointing out a slap at obama because i have never. heard putin say those words about the current president. these two men, talk about some of the biggest personalities on the planet. they may talk nice now, but if they both had the power that that could be a recipe for a mega confrontation, jill dougherty. >> it could. it would just depend on what donald trump was try iing to dot that given moment. vladimir putin's motive is to let his opponent and still remember the united states is an opponent for russia right now. the americans are criticized constantly over here in russia. so e he would let let's say the united states take a move and then try to come in and either criticize, answer, et cetera. however, recently we're seeing a little bit of movement by president putin to become more friends again. and you're seeing that on syria. let's work together to fight terrorism. it's going to be a big meeting tomorrow in new york at the united nations. and i think you're going to

vladimir putin says the economic outterm peaked. what does that say about the evocation of western sanctions. >> because vladimir putin says it has peaked doesn't mean it has. western sanctions are effective. you could argue that that is not enough. and evidence suggests that it hasn't been enough. one thing we have not talked about was ukraine, it was touched upon, they mentioned the presence of military advisors, and we know that russia has gone and grabbed crimea, destabilized southern and eastern ukraine, and would not have happened without russia, the sanctions have not reversed that. have they had an impacts on the russian economy? >> the answer is yes. they have not done enough >>> lincoln mitchell. thank you for your insights >>> this morning, that u.n.-backed plan to form a unity government in libya is in jeopardy. the pact would unite the self-declared parliament in tripoli and the internationally recognised one in tobruk. the president of tripoli's government says he has not authorized his representatives to mover forward

donald trump promised he would get, quote, get along very well with vladimir putin. in a three-hour press conference tuesday, putin called trump a bright and talented person. here's how trump reacted. >> i welcome it. i think it's great. i think that's what should be happening. his dislike for president obama and it's a mutual thing is terrible. that's why you see all the conflict, all the problems, all the hatred. we should be able to work with them. if we can't work with russia, that's not a good thing. i'm greatly honored by his statement. i think it's terrific. >> katrina a spokesperson for the trump campaign and from los angeles, a conservative columnist and attorney. kurt, the mutual admiration, a good thing for trump's campaign or not? >> oh, i think this is terrible, eric. next i expect him to see him riding down the beach shirtless on horseback. you noo, putin is our enemy. coming from a guy who can't tell you who the nuclear triad is, i'm not real surprised he's slobbering over tick daters. at least they're not leftist dictators like obama prefers. >> i take

this is in three words vladimir putin's bush moment. the russian president was taking a page out of the former american president is the playbook. >> how so? >> either with us or the terrorists. basically accusing turkey of in some ways supporting terrorism. invoking the words allah, talking about harmony. the chechen's would disagree. this was the bravado that we saw from george w. bush. it was the kind of speeches we heard after 9/11. that does not back down, speaks of why they hate us and need to do what we need to do. these are russian values, these are attacks on russian valuation, we have heard it before. again, it seems like the former american president we have the sort of not backing out, not backing down, but rather continuing with the war of words, but backing it with military escalations in the life of syria. >> to what end. why? >> certainly vladimir putin is taking a sort of insecure approach to foreign policy. he says that we - he called them they. they are trying to destabilize us. they have destabilized the middle east.

petersburg picked up his student from the law school of leningrad university, name of vladimir putin.in proved to be a very effective manager. at that time russia was in trouble with food supplies. so. >> does he know what he's up to when he compliments donald trump? >> i think putin is smart enough to praise those who he believes may become leaders of the country and i think they are of more or less same mind-set in my view. i do not -- i actually -- i believe i met trump many years ago in new york and i spoke something about russia and he was bored and left the -- you know, but i may be wrong. any way, putin as i say is a guy who has been, well, very effective, taking advantage of high oil prices and his own, i would say, resolute decisive manner of dealing with his friends and enemies. and as mentioned before, well, those who would not agree may just get out. >> if i met you at cocktail or dinner party you would be the guy i would talk to all night. christian, the comments from both men have gotten reaction. mitt romney tweeted this "an important distinction, thug putin kills journ

right now, vladimir putin is riding high in the polls. not at his peak, but high because he is a robust performance against isis and against terrorists as he describes them inside syria. but it is the economy that he took the first question on today and unusually for putin, he did not start off with a big anti-western tirade that the united states and others are the root of the problems for russia right now. he did not give his analysis. the first was a question. the same address that the economy could be in trouble for a couple of years. this time he was asked the position. he said russia's based budget predictions on oil last year at $100 a barrel. this year, it is now based at oil on $50 a barrel. he said we have to make changes. we are doing better on agriculture. he said production in some of the factories has gone up in recent months. the economy is the key to vladimir putin's popularity in a large part. vladimir putin's popularity is key to him staying in power. that is what makes him happy. this is why he's addressing this issue h

here you have donald trump praising vladimir putin and putin praising donald trump, and trump certainly other candidates showing a real lack of understanding of foreign policy in the debate. what do you and other republicans think of all this who are not in anyone's camp? >> i laugh but it's really not that funny. putin is one of our biggest rivals globally. he is actually a really bad guy. i think that maybe trump is worried about post business dealings with putin in the future. the fact of the matter is that you cannot take a stand that vladimir putin is a good guy and hope to win the republican nomination. it's not tenable. we cannot be supporting a dictator like that. >> you think this is disqualifying? >> i think it's disqualifying. it's horrendous he would praise on someone like putin who is a really, really bad guy. >> where do you go? >> i don't think trump will get the nomination. hopefully voters will take a look at this, long look at this, and decide making those comments is not worthy, trump is not worthy of getting the nomination because it's bad. you can't say he's a good

operations, this is something that vladimir putin said two or three times most recently at the parismit at the press conference saying it is from turkey and strong words from erdogan today quoting sources and if russia can prove that is the case i can step down as president of turkey and if russia cannot prove it perhaps vladimir putin can consider stepping down with russia and the war of words is escalating and not the military and shooting were and turkey is a nato ally and president obama saying he stands behind turkey and defenses even in president obama's meeting on the meetings of the summit yesterday telling vladimir putin he regrets the loss of the russian pilot's life and shot down on the syrian border and taken inside the syrian border by ethnic turkmen fighting the assad regime and regrets the loss of life and backing turkey all the way and calling for deescalation between the conflict. >> is there a sense that vladimir putin is trying to fan the flames? >> i think vladimir putin has domestic political considerations and he has been worned by tough leaders here in washingt

strong words from vladimir putin on turkey. the russian president says turkey will regret it's downing of a russian warplanes and the killing of its pilot. at least 14 people are shot dead in a gun massacre at a holiday party in california. the two main suspects were also killed in a shootout with police. thiscoming up for you hour, as the euro gets closer to parity with the dollar, we will look at the winners and losers from the week -- from the weaker currency. first, our top stories. genie: the supreme court in south africa has just bumped up the conviction of track star oscar pistorius to murder come overturning the manslaughter conviction already against him three last year a judge gave the story us a five-year jail sentence for killing involuntarily his girlfriend, reeva steenkamp. here is more now on the new ruling from the supreme court judge, eric leach. >> i have no doubt that in firing the fatal shots, the accused must have foreseen that whoever was behind the door would reconcile his -- reconcile himself to that and

president vladimir putin. and on thursday, mr. putin said the u.s. presidential candidate was "bright and talented and the absolute leader of the presidential race." . other american candidates have spoken against mr. putin, but trump is calling the praise and quote a great honor. >> he's a tough guy. right, he's tough. then they're accusing me, putin called him brilliant. that's not good. well, isn't it sort of nice if countries are always fighting with, maybe we get along and let them do -- we're all tough guys. but wouldn't it be nice if russia and us could knock out an enemy together, not us bear the full cost sometimes. we're always fighting. but i've had some guys say, russia. how about the people up -- i wouldn't talk to them or discuss anything with them. what do they want to do? have a world war i ii. >> earlier we spoke with jill doherty, a former bureau chief in moscow who is now a researcher at the international security and defense. we asked why the russian president would praise one of the most controversial candidates running for presi

which raises the point about the wisdom of donald trump and what he has had to say, embracing vladimir putinth of you. >> at least he's a kwlooerleade unlike what we have in this country. i've always felt fine about putin. i think that he is a strong leader. he's a powerful leader, he's represented his country, that's the way the country is being represented. he's actually got popularity within his country, they respect him as a leader. >> mike mcfaul, first to you. >> there's so many things that are wrong with that statement on so many different levels. first of all, vladimir putin does only things that are in russia's national interest. so for him to be endorsing mr. trump, that's because he think it's in russia's national interest for mr. trump to be the leader in the united states. second, the part -- you didn't play in the your clip. the part i found most reprehensible when responding to that question on "morning joe" was the moral equivalency between what the united states does abroad in terms of our armed forces and what putin does domestically. trump basically said that what soldiers

talk to us more about what vladimir putin had to say when it comes to turkey. we'll talk about that in a moment, first, let's talk about syria and what he had to say there. >> well, he really answered the question, unspoken question hanging around for a long time, what about president assad, what about his future. he made it very clear that he saw assad staying on, at least for the present. he said that as far as russia was concerned, there should be no attempt by any other country to dictate about who should be running syria. that will be left to the people of syria. left to the people of syria if the collection can be brought around, but assad stays on and that was an important, possibly one of the most important notes of this long news conference. >> when it came to turkey, seems that the frosty relations still very much exist between the two countries. >> yeah, they really do. i mean, president pot warned that he was planning, well, he warned turkey don't even think about violating the border. he ruled out any chance of making any sort of recompense or gett

>> donald trump has responded to russian president vladimir putin's praise for him. eaking to reporters yesterday, putin said trump, quote, is a very flamboyant man, very talented, no doubt about that. he is an absolute leader of the presidential race as we see it today. and, quote, he says that he wants to move -- wants to move to another closer level of relations, can we really not welcome that? of course we welcome that. trump has repeatedly said he thinks the u.s. would have a better relationship with russia if he became president. >> i think i'd get along very well with vladimir putin. i just think so. people would say, what do you mean? i think i'd get along well with him. as far as syria i like, if putin wants to go in, and i got to know him very well because we were both on "60 minutes," we were stable mates, and we did very well that night. there's one thing with putin he's really hitting them hard. okay? but i said a month ago, two months ago, when it wasn't fashionable, if russia wants to bomb them, let them bomb them. >> and in a statement yesterday trump

they have a contraction of 4%. >> yes, it's a contradictory message because vladimir putin told russiansll caps of weeks ago that the give the crisis had passed. now it seems he is reaching out to those who don't take that view that thinks it was premature for them to say the worst is over. it's clear evidence that maybe is reaching out to people who are more semester who need to be listened to. some of the prognoses for next year might not be as optimistic as others are saying. >> what will investors take from this? will we see a bounce in the stocks or the russian ruble? ruble was something like 30 to her office when the finance minister left office and now it's 72. from an investor point of view, his return to government within the kremlin or within the government under the prime minister would be an indication that vladimir putin is listening to the most experienced officials he has available and he is willing to take on board unpleasant messages about what needs to be done to improve things for the russian economy. >> this is a great scoop from bloomberg news that we don't know when

turkey, russia, recep tayyip erdogan and vladimir putin, and the media kat fight over what led to the downing of the russian war plane. unapologetic, the british tabloid that karnt bring itself to say -- can't bring itself to say sorry that a sister paper backed down on. beijing is on an anticorruption drive. chinese media is not immune. if you are chinese, political and online, you'll need to to be creative before getting shut down, shot down, by the cyber police. >>> when a plane was brought down on the syrian boarder. the media outlets presented different versions of the fact. ankara said the plane violates turkish air space and warned the pilot um teen times to change course. moscow refuted that saying turkey shot down the war plane over syrian territory, and was a stab in the back by the accomplices of terrorists. the warring nar tifrs were outlined in the media. the two journalists at the turkish daily, jim hooul yacht accused of aiding a terrorist organization. they backed up video evidence that m.i.t. tried to send a convoy of the weapons to syria the conflict in syria is a ge

i was actually in germany in uniform, waiting for the guys in the army vladimir putin was in to come rder. so i remember these guys and i know what ex-kgb like putin are all about. we shouldn't be kissing up to them. >> kissing up? >> palling around? i don't think that's quite palling around, but we have a lot of the gop which has caused some of the rift in the party that want to go to war all the time. and there are some who would be happy with perpetual wars and we're not at that place anymore. and what good does it do to have a good nuclear triad if you're afraid to use it? that's where we are today. and we need to be discussing how we fix these problems, not just complaining and name calling about oh, who started this, who started that. eric, most people today, if you're a democrat, you're stuck in the '60s. if you're a republican, you're stuck in the '80s. most people today are right here in 2015. and they want somebody who's going to go to bat for them and right now donald trump seems to be -- >> kurt, let me throw this at you. the positive thing about vladimir putin, he taught

before the -- >> just yeah the most recently picture we have seen of president obama meeting with vladimir putinoking at him, putin looking off to the side arm on obama, it is very awkward. >> like a critical point are we in any position to no less fight and won a war, in syria but even impose a no-fly zone so long as putin there with foefrs and antiaircraft. >> i think imposing a no-fly zone about feasible before we saw vice president move in. now that he is there with forces, russian media reporting recently that now their fighter aircraft are going to be armed with air to air missiles things changed the calculus changed especially with shootdown of the russian jet by turkey, by the way, u.s. now saying, yesterday actually saying that -- that aircraft was actually in turkish airspace created a wholly lot of awkwardness, a whole lot of posturing going on, of course, the big discussion, that i think is going on, behind the scenes, between putin and obama, is obama saying, you know, the u.s. is saying, that assad has to go, and putin is there to prop up assad a fundamental difference in the way t