william taylor former u.s.assador to ukraine, ambassador, good to see you, good to speak with you again. thank you for your timer. those are the arguments on both sides of this referendum question. let me ask you, for our purposes you're the tiebreaker. is the referendum league or is it according to international law. >> it is not legal. it won't be free and fair, the referendum. so the legalities aside it will not an good indication of what ukrainians want and it won't an good indication of what crimeans want. there will, crimean tatar who is will probably boycott the vote, and there will be others who will be intimidated. this will not be a serious vote. >> what happens on monday the day after the referendum. the vote comes in and if it comes in as every seems to be suggesting what happens then? what does vladimir putin do? >> that is exactly the right question. because it is up to president putin to make that decision. there are a couple of things he could do. one is nothing. he could accept the vote, but no

we don't need the bickering among our own politicians. >> brigad kevin ryan, ambassador william taylor. thank you for joining us. straight ahead we'll check the conflict from inside >> continuing our coverage of the crisis in ukraine we turp to what is happening inside russia. thousands march in moscow in support of the the moves in crimea. opponents demonstrated, but some were dragged away by the police. the russian economy is taking it on the chip, the stock market plungingment russia lost almost 60 billion, more than the cost of the sochi winter olympics, practically overnight. we are joined by al jazeera correspondent rory challands were moscow. good to have you with us. how are people in moscow reacting. how strong is public support for the military action in ukraine. >> finding trustworthy independent polls is difficult. they are not done och, so it's a fairly difficult task to gauge accurately who public opinion generally is. anebbing totally, speaking to people, engaging views myself, it does seem to be that russians in the main sympathise with their government actions in ukrai

belfer center for science and international affairs at harford university, and william taylor, former ambassador to ukraine in 2006 and 2009. he's working at the university any of peace. >> russians are a significant player in hot spots around the world, syria, iran and afghanistan. geopolitically we need russia's collaboration. what does the worsening collaboration mean for the u.s.? >> i question whether we need russia's collaboration. it's not clear they've been helpful in afghanistan, or they've done anything extraordinary on the iranian negotiations or anything helpful in syria - if anything, the opposite. we don't have to worry that much about offending russia. we should focus on ukraine. the russians have a direct threat. we have interests there, that's the reason we should be focussed. russia's obinstructionism caused us to have little progress. matters? >> i don't think we have to sacrifice ukraine to change their behaviour, which is not helpful under the current circumstances, no. the russians are demonstrating that they are not helpful in well. >> in no way did i mean to im

former ambassador william taylor and charles kupchan. thank you very much for your time on this important story. >> thank you. >>> coming up, what are the russian people thinking about the situation in ukraine? and how do we find out what the russian people are really thinking? where the dissent is, how much dissent is there? that's coming up. and later, an expert on machine politics will analyze the putin machine. and in "the rewrite" my answer and only my answer to the question, has vladimir putin lost touch with reality? angela merkel says he has. madeleine albright says he's delusional. i think there might be a simpler explanation. people don't have to think about where their electricity comes from. they flip the switch-- and the light comes on. it's our job to make sure that it does. using natural gas this power plant can produce enough energy for about 600,000 homes. generating electricity that's cleaner and reliable, with fewer emissions-- it matters. ♪ >> what does dissent in russia look like these days? we're going to show you a

william taylor, former u.s. ambassador to ukraine. you very much. >> thank you. >>> now turning to some politics. if you are a fan of amazing verbal smack downs of u.s. senators, who isn't, well, we have a piece of tape i think you should see. it's on the subject of health care, but it is about, well, total ownership. it's coming up. stay with us. in the nation... what's precious to you is precious to us. and from your family, to your belongings, to your dreams for retirement, nationwide is here to protect what you love most. we put members first, because we don't have shareholders. join the nation. ♪ nationwide is on your side psalegets up to 795 hmiles per . the passat tdi clean diesel salesperson #2: actually, we're throwing in a $1,000 fuel reward card. we've never done that. that's why there's never been a better time to buy a passat tdi clean diesel. husband: so it's like two deals in one? avo: during the salesperson #2: first ever exactly. volkswagen tdi clean diesel event, get a great deal on a passat tdi, that gets up to 795

former ambassador william taylor and charles kupchan. thank you very much for your time on this important story. >> thank you. >>> coming up, what are the russian people thinking about the situation in ukraine? and how do we find out what the russian people are really thinking? where the dissent is, how much dissent is there? that's coming up. and later, an expert on machine politics will analyze the putin machine. and in "the rewrite" my answer and only my answer to the question, has vladimir putin lost touch with reality? angela merkel says he has. madeleine albright says he's delusional. i think there might be a simpler explanation. vo: once upon a time there was a boy who traveled to a faraway place where villages floated on water and castles were houses dragons lurked, giants stood tall, and the good queen showed the boy it could all be real. avo: whatever you can imagine, all in one place. expedia, find yours. >> what does dissent in russia look like these days? we're going to show you a coup of examples of that next. and we'll inc

and william taylor the former ambassador to ukraine under both president george w. bush and president obama. e.j., i think we're at a point that represents a very difficult challenge for the media, the people who get to question these republican politicians who make these assertions about this happening exclusively in russia and the ukraine, exclusively because of the american president, that "uss so patently ridiculously false on its face and has absolutely no logic retroactively in the experience of republican presidents. how would you suggest the media deal with these kinds of assertions by these republican senators and congressmen? >> they might mention the name osama bin laden for starters. i mean, if barack obama bought alaska today for $7 million, lindsey graham would say he paid too much. there is something just astonishing about what's going on out there. bobby jindal has a piece in the "national review" where he compares barack obama to roosevelt at yalta. now, first of all, republicans talked about yalta all through the '50s. i'm sure obama likes being co

william taylor, former u.s. ambassador to ukraine.ou very much. >> thank you. >>> now turning to some politics. if you are a fan of amazing verbal smack downs of u.s. senators, who isn't, well, we have a piece of tape i think you should see. it's on the subject of health care, but it is about, well, total ownership. it's coming up. stay with us. my sinuses are actp and i've got this runny nose. i better take something. truth is, sudafed pe pressure and pain won't treat all of your symptoms. really? alka seltzer plus severe sinus fights your tough sinus symptoms plus your runny nose. oh what a relief it is she tossed and turned and couldn't turn off her mind. it was hard for her to sleep, even one little ounce. then she discovered tide, downy, and bounce. soothing scents for your sheets, your pj's, too. the sweet dreams collection -- it's a breakthrough! the moral of this tale shouldn't be controversial. buy the sweet dreams collection, because this is a commercial. shh! no! shh! ♪ [ click ] ♪ i'm bethand i'm michelle. and we own the p

william taylor, vice president for middle east and africa at u.s. institute of peace, good to have you with us ambassador, and lieutenant colonel oliver north. ambassador we start with issue that president raised on constitutionality of the referendum vote, why is there so much focus on this language, and the debate, it is up to, it seems to me, president putin who he does, and the motivations are going to be his own. what is the points of this language? >> there is no points to this referendum. this referendum is a joke. no one should pay attention to it it will not be free or fair. there will be no observers to see if it is free or fair. the representative from the u.n. was roughed up and set out of crimea. so, inspectors or monitors, trying to watch this referendum will not be there. lou: and colonel north, what should we do here? a lot of bluster. a lot of rhetoric. there are some if you will, couch side analysts suggests that the united states as we have done today, should dispatch forces this at least under president's order, a guided missile

he we are joined by william taylor, and kurt volker, a former u.s.assador to n.a.t.o., and the executive director of the mack cane institute at the university of arizona. they join us from washington d.c. you heard bob gates say that crimea is gone, is it? >> no, it's not gone. it doesn't look great. but there's some indication, as your leader says, that there could be talks, discussions. the russians occupy with their troops crimea. it gives them something to bargain with. about. >> ambassador kurt volker, what do you think? >> i think russia clearly staked out what it wants. it wants to annex crimea. while it isn't gone today, i think by next week this time we'll be saying it is. >> what about the possibility of greater escalation. the rest of eastern and southeastern ukraine, we saw pro-russian demonstrations on monday, and the russians made noises, as they did about crimea, about protecting russians there. >> so the russians can prompt the demonstrations at any point. they have been sending prove okay tours across the border. they can make them h

by ambassador william taylor, serving ag ambassador for ukraine from 2006 to 2009 and coordinated assistance. he is vice president for the middle east and africa for the united states institute of peace. and on set nina khruscheva, professor of international affairs at the new school, member of the council on foreign into the gulag of the russian mind." ambassador taylor, president obama announced sanctions against 11 russian and ukrainian officials, all architects of the russia's ukraine policy, and the european union is to announce sanctions on tuesday, but they may overlap with the president's list. the responses have been like this, from russia's deputy prime minister saying: "comraid obama, what do you do with those that don't have acts abroad or you didn't thing about it?" are the sanctions duds before you even think about it? >> no, i don't think they are not. the sanctions are designed to put pressure on officials, because of actions and decisions they had taken before. that is the action, decisions and recommendations to vladimir putin that he go forward with this sham referendum. t

ambassador to ukraine william taylor and former ambassador in greece. gentlemen, good morning.s you know, john kerry has been meeting with the russian foreign minister lavrov. what is the best case scenario you see? >> best case scenario is that the foreign minister has the approval from his boss, president you putin to back this down, to be able to put people back -- their troops back in their baraks, for kdeescalate - >> we just got this from andrea mitchell, zero chance that the vote will be 30postponed. does that surprise you you? >> does not surprise me a bit. >> zero chance. >> that is not surprise. >> and what is the impact of that ambassador burns? >> well, it's highly significant. putin took crimea because he could do it, because he had the opportunity, because he knew there would be no countervailing military pressure from the west. he's not going to give it back. there is very little doubt about the outcome of the referendum. russians made make sure it's pro russian. and the big question will be whether putin then moves to formally annex crimea. and that would be to

i spoke earlier to william taylor, who is a former u.s.kraine, about this and i put exactly that point to him. here's the ambassador. >> bashar al sad has a patron in moscow, and he is very bee hold -- beholding to the patron. another reason we should be very tough on president putin because it's clear he has no similar view about syria to ours. >> from the other side in syria, the "associated press" published this photograph which hey said was from a rebel demonstration in the north of the country. to the rebels carrying a banner reading in part in english, ukrainian brothers, don't surrender to the savage russians and saying, never rely on the international community. now, neither putin nor assad seem likely to heed any domestic or international calls to halt their actions as they form what we might now call a new axis of the obstinate. shep? >> jonathan hunt, live in washington. good line. >> just gotten another dispatch from reuters and they now say armed men thought to be russians drove a truck on the missile defense post in crimea, a

ambassador to ukraine, william taylor. ambassador, good morning to you. let's start with what kind of country we are looking at. walk us through the changing government they have had and what they are dealing with on the ground. and then we'll go out to the foreign policy. >> so ukraine's new government is getting its feet on the ground. just last week, they were able to establish themselves. the parliament, the designated an interim president. they confirmed an interim prime minister and they took steps towards elections in may. so they are a new government. they do the legitimacy of the ratta, the elected ratta, but they're facing enormous problems, even before this attack on their sovereignty by the russians. the economic problems are nor enormous and they will have to deal with that after they've dealt with this crisis with the russians. >> when you were ambassador, what did you make of crimea, its position as an ethnically, somewhat different than the rest of the nation, its ties to russia, and what does it mean to us, as we look up on a map and look

william taylor is a former u.s. ambassador to ukraine.stitute of peace. ambassador, thanks for joining me. first of all, let's talk about recourses that the united states -- that we have in ukraine right now. what are they? what are our options? >> our options are to make it very clear, very clear to the world and to the russians that this action that they've taken in ukraine is unacceptable. i'm sure we're starting in the security council. the russians hope to host the g-8 leaders. we should skip that. we should tell them that we are not -- we taught to think about expelling the russians from the this g-8. it should go back to the g-7, we ought to consider that. >> is that realistic, to expel russia from the g-8? >> of course. we let them in, why couldn't we let them out? >> is a russian move inevitable, an additional move? >> no, i don't think it's inevitab inevitable. mr. putin yesterday said he was going to work with the new government, he was going to work with international monetary fund, the imf, on a support package for ukraine. b

thank you, ambassador william taylor. it's great to have your expertise. thanks for your service to the country. howard, your wisdom was great. >>> paul ryan has decided that's what is wrong with america is not income inequality, as the president says, it's the poor. they're the problem. so he is in effect declaring war on the poor when talking about reforming food stamps, welfare, head start, medicaid. he is going where the money is, he thinks. >>> the more democrats win over democrats and minorities, the more they lose white men. now some democrats are talking about climbing the steepest political mountain on the wall, winning back the white guys who deserted the party, especially down south. but not just down south. >>> the political scandal that rocked the early 1980s, it started the late '70s was the basis for the movie "american hustle." some of this actually happened. we're going inside on the terrible corruption in philly and south jersey, which was exposed in abscam. >>> finally, let me finish with the deep concern have i about this possibility of

her attorney, william taylor, responded to congressman issa's announcement with this short e-mail. quote, i do not know why chairman issa said that. as of now, she intends to continue to assert her fifth amendment rights. a spokesman for the oversight committee then clarified with this comment on sunday afternoon. quote, bill taylor, ms. learner's attorney, has confirmed in writing that she is willing to testify and she'sler now requesting a one-week delay for the public hearing. we have informed mr. taylor that ms. lerner may make her request for a delay on wednesday when she appears for the hearing. >>> president obama made news last month when he told bill o'reilly he does not believe there was even a smidgen of corruption attached to the irs scandal. >> peter, thank you. >>> right now, a fierce snowstorm, and it's crossing our country. there are more than 100 million americans in its path. federal government offices in washington will be closed tomorrow. that news just crossing. so what can you expect? the latest on that. >>> plus, we heard a lot of folks talk about losing thei

ambassador to ukraine, william taylor. thanks for joining us, ambassador. obviously you have a plan for the region having spent so much time there. you are laying out a plan of action. you think ukraine has to exercise restraint. why? >> i do. i don't think president putin is thinking about this reasonably. the ukrainians need to give him some ability to back down. the ukrainians will fight. if president putin sends his troops across-the-boarder from russian to ukraine the ukrainian military will respond. i think there needs to be diplomacy. there needs to be reachout on the part of the ukrainian government on part of russians to the east to demonstrate there is no threat to russians in the eastern part of their country. melissa: how do they give putin that opening? they offer to sit down? >> yes, exactly. i think president obama indicated in his long conversation with president putin that there is mediation role the international community can play. that russians and uraniums need to sit down to work out an agreement whereby there are multiple ways you can

ambassador to the ukraine william taylor and managing part of beacon policy advisors. steve co-authored this "wall street journal" op-ed piece this week with my friend bob. gentlemen thank you very much. mr. ambassador let me go to you. what's your thought on this gary kasparov thought that the only people to go after is the oligards. their asset, bank deposits. is that realistic? >> it is. and the think, the people to go after are the people who are making these decisions, that is the government officials, people in the parliament, if there are advisors to mr. putin, then they should go after them, individual sanctions as you say, take away visas so they can't travel to the united states or europe. freeze their assets that they have in europe. and in the united states. go after these kinds of things. these are the individual sanctions. there are broader sanctions one could take against russian banks and that's a broader set of issues. the president could do that. those things are economic and get the attention of decision makers and people advising mr. putin. >> steve

. >> joining me now is reuters' investigative reporter, david rode, and william taylor, the former ambassadorentleman, good morning. >> good morning. >> ambassador, the white house yesterday touted that these were the toughest sanctions since the cold war, but "the washington post" basically told them a slap on the wrist. and let me read to you from their editorial board. mr. obama had promised consequences if mr. putin followed through with the crimean referendum, so we doubt the west's president's actions would be even this week. he thought some prankster had prepared the drafted sanctions. so are you surprised by this reaction and what more can the u.s. do? >> not at all surprised. and there's a lot more that the united states can do and should. what we said, what the united states said was, if this referendum, this sham referendum, goes forward, then some sanctions would be put in place. and they were. what we've also said, what the u.s. government has also said, is that if further steps, like today's annexation, mr. putin's attempt at annexation goes forward, then additional, stronger sa

bill: this was one of the exchanges of the many we have our hand on now between her attorney william taylorof the investigators on your committee. i can tell you we can probably move forward if the committee agrees her appearance at a deposition would satisfy any obligation she has to provide information in this investigation. for her to take the risk inherent in waiver of her amendment privilege she would need assurance she is resolving her issues with the committee. that is legalese. put that in english. >> that means we'll testify in private but not public. they are offering to do a private deposition which in some ways would be good for us as opposed to a public hearing and our response is guess what? we are going to do both. bill: two final questions. do you believe you are on the verge of finally getting not all the answers, but more of the answers you have been looking for for 9 months. >> yes, sir, you will see a motive when she testifies that will explain why they did what they did. bill: it's tomorrow or a week from tomorrow? is that guaranteed? >> nothing in life is guaranteed ex

you look at the e-mails here, and we have them from the attorney, it's from lerner's attorney william taylor. this is from steven castor. it says i understand from john that lerner is willing to testify and she is requesting a one-week delay in talking to the chairman, wanted to make sure we have this right. followed by this e-mail confirming yes. >> that's pretty emphatic. it was crazy, you had this give-and-take. you had issa on fox news sunday saying she is going to show up, she is going to talk to us. she is not going to take the fifth. then you have her attorney who said this, said i do not know why chairman issa said that. as of now, she intend to continue to assert her fifth amendment rights. the reason darrell issa said that, sir, with all due respect was the fact that you said yes, she would go ahead and testify. >> where did that come from? >> the big question is why did they change their mind? why did lois lerner's side change their mind because it was pretty emphatic, yes, she is going to talk in public. issa said she is going to talk in public. did somebody make a phone call, yo