the trouble with wilhelm was he was in charge of a powerful nation. the british king had no power under the british constitution. it wouldn't have mattered if he had been king of albanian. it would have mattered for the albanians but not for the rest of your. he was in charge of this very powerful country. with german reunification you suddenly have this huge power and getting more powerful because its industry and economy were booming and it had this powerful army. when wilhelm took germany, he had a great deal of power under the constitution and i think that is what made it so dangerous. >> is interesting because this imperial presidency which doesn't seem to work there much anymore. winston churchill as you know very well i was able to dig hate so many things during the world war. nowadays cameron can't even get parliaments to bow to his will. his presidency seems to be changing as an imperial leader. do you have that sense? >> you certainly barack obama is an example of a president who is struggling to an act legislation and has struggled with dec

wilhelm was the emperor of germany. he was a physically afflicted and psychologically, i think, afflicted man. he had great power for -- i won't call it evil, but for destruction. and he was constantly shifting back and forth between a sort of paula desire to do good, to be recognized in europe as a factor for good, but i'm launched from what she said. i would say the dreadnoughts race was because wilhelm wanted a great navy, a high seas fleet. britain and france had already gobbled up all the colonies but no one knew quite what the german navy was for. certainly, the british didn't. they asked themselves, he's got the most powerful army in europe. why does he need a great navy? who i isn't supposed to be building against? >> at races and interesting point, market, it seems to me one of the seminal events of the lead up to the war and the war itself was really the end of a host of empires that were led by these great leaders. it's really a conflict that brought probably more empires to an end in one fell swoop than any

wilhelm read that book, and he said, you know, i'm entranced. i've never read anything so wonderful. he orders that copies be put in the cabin of every german ships. and i think i read somewhere that sermons should be given in churches. this is true. >> i didn't know that. [laughter] >> well, he always went overboard on things. >> there's a very narrow slice, isn't it, of time. because nowadays, of course, navies are important, but they're certainly not by any means seminal since the arrival of airplanes and missiles, so on. there's a very narrow slice of time that this sort of thing would become so critical and that there were individuals who headed up governments and so on, who would be willing to bow down in the face of that, right? >> yeah. and the trouble with wilhelm was both his personality, this very erratic person who had this love/hate relationship with britain. i mean, he wanted to emulate them, but he also feared them. very complicated. the trouble with wilhelm is that he was in charge of a very powerful nation, and it wouldn't have

>>. >> as they were all cousins they felt in the case of wilhelm and she said god had put them there. but they identified themselves deeply with their country's. but what you have was nationalist forces pushing yet it is unfortunate but the public opinion can sometimes make relations more difficult rather than last what you think of china and japan today? with a very intense nationalist opinion instead of mass media that puts pressures on government and another possible lesson to change a path in the world sometimes great powers are thrown in by their allies in nato have as much control as they would like. serbia was rejected by russia that gave them recklessness and i think they behaved which is the lesser ally of germany but in the present age with smaller allies conceded states and israel is china and north korea? because the prestige of a greater powers tied up the lesser powers so that gives them a freer hand to behave as they wish. >> host: that is a good segue into the next segment i'd like to invite members to join for conversation and a reminder the meeting is on the record.

your job and many jobs of the internet's reporter, with reporter of the "new york times" and alex wilhelm, this week on "press here". >> good morning, i'm scott mcgrew. i saw a tweet that said 1213 the year you turn down $3 billion. 2014 the year you take $3 billion. 2015, the year where someone from 2014 or 2013 will regret what they did. snapchat turning down a $3 billion offer from facebook in november of 2013 and nest, the maker of the start thermostat taking a $3 billion from google earlier this month. jason venkin knows a thing or two about selling a company. he recently sold his company eco sign to adobe, and so when did you know the time was right? did you take the first offer on your company? over the life cycle we had about six firm offers that were term sheets. >> there is a thing like poker where you know this is going to bet it. this is where we know how do you know? >> it's tough. two thoughts, first of all, it turns out deep down in your gut there is a magic number. i didn't know this. i worked on eco sign for over five years before we sold. i didn't know the magic number u

at the same time, in your conference call, evp and cfo ed wilhelm said we are tracking toward the lowf that range at macy's. is that just because the kinks are getting -- >> yeah. it's just about conversion. we've converted about 180 stores out of 450 that we will do. so we're about a third there in conversion. the stores that we've converted have done really well. the stores where we're just managing inventory, not as well. so when we get the branding done, we get our staffing in, i think we're going to have just a phenomenal business with macy's. >> okay. now, today stern agee, they have been critical, they upgraded you to buy, they raised estimates. they're talking about maybe the possibility that even though same-store sales were up, gross margins going down. maybe there's a gross margins could be bottoming out. is that possible? >> gross margins in our company, because of our relationships with the brands and us trading at the high end of the marketplace, the brands work with us to make sure that the margins, the inventory is managed, and we've even in the toughest times at the f

your job and many jobs of the internet's reporter, with reporter of the "new york times" and alex wilhelmgood morning, i'm scott mcgrew. i saw a tweet that said 1213 the year you turn down $3 billion. 2014 the year you take $3

it's like warner wilhelm or something for real.. >> anna kooiman is that your real name. >> that's my real name. >> tucker carlson? >> of course not. it's my none decable. >> janice wintor. >> now i'm confused because the teleprompter says anna in it. >> don't be thrown off. >> headlines to get to. first time since black hawk down military personnel being deployed to smam i some somalia. serve as advisors to the somalian government. 18 americans were killed in 1993 when two helicopters were shot down by smom is somali fighters. >> bill requires the administration to quickly november people compromised. so far no reported security breaches. but bill supporters say it's important to have the protections in place. >>> some new york city residents are asking a judge to stop a massive security barrier going up around the world trade center site part of a 4 o-million-dollar security plan that includes guard booths and checkpoints. since the september 11th, 2001 terrorist attacks. the area has been reinviteddized and the 9/11 memorial sit

and wilhelm played a huge part in this. the influence of the american naval thinker is huge here because he expressed the idea that great powers have empires, they therefore have navies. you can't be a great power without having a navy to protect your trade and your empire. wilhelm read that book and said, i've never read anything so wonderful. he ordered that copies be put in eave german ship, and i read somewhere that he said sermons should be given in churches about those insides which makes for very odd sermons. he went overboard on things. >> a very narrow slice of time, because nowdays -- there's not by any mean seminole since the arrival of airplanes and so on. so, really a very narrow sort of thing would become so critical, and that there were some individuals who headed up governments and so on, and who would be willing to bow down in the face of that. >> the trouble with wilhelm was his permit -- a very erratic person who has a love-hate relationship with britain. wanted to emulate them and also feared them. the t