bush and with president yeltsin for a year was on the focus and oof course general scowcroft was thenational advisor when the focus was on disarmament on the controls into deep nuclear rising say ukraine and making sure after the collapse of the soviet union to nuclear weapons was safe there was probably not enough attention given to helping out the new russian government financially, economically and i know president nixon himself was in favor of that but that was very much a perco where the intent to renew focused on the concrete interests particularly the arms control and the nuclear issues at the clinton administration came to office and had a much more ambitious agenda. i think that clinton himself said clinton was the russian hand and he and those around him thought they had eight years and a maximum two fashion to turn it into a democracy in the market society. and the market society. now we know that enrich or respect that was overly ambitious. you can't remake the society like that and there are strong forces of tradition and history but there was an attempt and more financi

i blame yeltsin.question was -- i will repeat it because for some reason, you have a framed photograph of boris yeltsin at your desk. she took this from her home. i find it as strange as you do, america. however, her question was this. which market since this guy left in 2000 had a better return, the u.s. or russia. hold on. watch this. no, no, hold on. go ahead. give them the answer. >> okay. and the answer is overwhelmingly, russia. overwhelmingly russia. >> russia has done better than america? i don't believe it. >> 552% since the 1st of january 2000. dow, by the way, is up how many percent? 44% at the same time frame. the s&p 500 up 29% in the same time frame. sorry, guys. russia wins. >> now i can't talk because my microphone's off and yours is working. we're ready to go. that is interesting. russia wins. beats america handily over that time. who would have thought. now let's talk some numbers. 3d printing stocks are in focus after a baron's cover story boldly said beware of 3d printing. in fact,

yeltsin was quite sick and mr. putin came in so the period that i was actually in government was a downward period in a relationship. a recognition in the u.s. that it had not been able to achieve what it wanted to do. the reset on the president george w. bush was initiated by vladimir putin and i do think it's the beginning of his time in the kremlin mr. putin was interested in a better relationship with the united states in close integration with the west as he understood it and out easily after 9/11 he was the first person to call to offer condolences but also to offer support in helping the united states and establish its bases in central asia. i think from president putin's point of view the desire was to have as one of my russian colleagues calls it an equal partnership of unequal funny clothes. in other words have a strategic partnership with the united states and in the beginning the bush administration was favorably inclined to that. the personal relationship seemed to be better and certainly the cooperati

while briefly prime minister under yeltsin russia went to war. it was a popular move in russia, bringing the break away rub bike under moscow's control and restoring russian pride. he wasted no time in cheering house and making the creme lip his own. the oligarchs were with him or exiled or in gaol. >> vladimir putin restored order to the military, contributing to national prestige. there has been an unofficial contract. >> we'll give up certain liberties if you, putin find stability and growth. >> under vladimir putin, there has been unprecedented growth with a new middle class, enjoying the truth of russia, the dreams of a post soviet nation. >> this is a russian watcher saying vladimir putin didn't get rid of corrosion. because he's all about money and power. >> you don't want to think about society, people. you want to think only about his power, his forces, his army, and his money. his money is a first for him. is that so. >> but unstable oil prices and the lack of nonindustrial sources of income means russia's economy can swing on global pr

. >> in 1994, a different russian president, boris yeltsin agreed with ukrainian independence. the ukrainance in return gave up their nuclear weapons and allowed the russians to have this base in crimea. putin is not a typical russian. he's a typical kgb cold war -- >> the point i'm trying to make is i do want to say that if i'm behind the scenes, i want to screen the russians carefully and slowly. i think the ukrainance have handled this incredibly well. they just kicked out an incredibly corrupt president who really had no stanton anymore. they have an unstable government, because they're trying to put this together. for them not to fire a shot was very, very smart. they would have ended up where the georgians did. this is tough stuff. i don't have to tell you that. you've been in the seat. it's not a matter of saying we have to support the president. it's a matter of saying we need to give this president time to get to the result he needs to get to. i think running -- going too fast and too hard is probably a mistake. >> do you agree with the ambassador we should cancel our

ukraine's interim prime minister us in the yeltsin you once decisive action to patients grunting bush was too weak to achieve not to create more tension that we want to pave the way talks. no more than a little of what you see. you must be to enable dynamo. and you come to that by issuing threats. the nominal roll the only consensus among leaders saw the fire appears to be on an aid package the ukraine totalling some of that than be in your eyes but money alone won't solve the crisis the latest let's bring in our correspondent in brussels me nots and the many ukrainians interim prime minister has just been speaking that would if you have to say. it was a very long press conference and it was to spend five bucks and i always say that states that there is a lot to talk about between the media and ukrainian government and he usually does but it also shows of course that said the dead and new prime minister had a very strong man seeks to deliver to the press here and he attached or europeans to stand firmly behind ukraine he thanked the eu for all its efforts to hold talks and tends to me

and now what we are seeing is a, you know, this is not yeltsin, but this is putin, and whether he isng in to crimea as a first step or whether he is going in to put incredible amount of pressure on the people of kiev, these are huge moves, and it is very clear that he is not so concerned about, you know, what are the sanctions that the european union and the u.s. comes up with, but he is concerned about playing this russian nationalist card within his country. >> and you know, it is interesting, because you mentioned boris yeltsin and he is a cautionary tale among the russian leadership, and they look at him as having given up russia's power in effect. and now over to steven cohen, and how much is that driving force when you look at someone like president putin in his words and views, i won't repeat jelt s yelts yeltsin's mistake, but i will stand up, and hold on to the countries that we consider part of our sphere. >> it is not a factor, and you have to understand already if you don't already what we are witnessing. we are witnessing the possibly worst history of our lifetime. we ar

and capitalism that yeltsin had brought to the old soviet union. modernize it perhaps. and he wasn't. he turns out to have been a creature of his upbringing. k.g.b. officer. and a greatly distressed grievance that animates his actions. he feels that the end. soviet union was the greatest geopolitical catastrophe of the 20th century. that's what he said. so you have to remember that. as you evaluate his actions. and every american president saw him through american lens rather than through his own lens. gwen: it's possible we are running that same danger and interpreting everything that happens through an american lens. thank you, peter. the standoff with russia may have been in front. mind for the u.s. president but another interesting tableau unfolded this week as well. the liberal democratic u.s. president met with conservative catholic argentinean pope. and everything seemed cordial enough but one side chose to emphasize what the two had in common while the other focused on areas of difference. each had its own domestic reasons for that approach

putin has been trying hard to fight a yeltsin before them to keep using control.e keeps people like vladimir and one of russia's national section is political leaders in tight rein. they are meant to deflect people. these kind of extreme actions and keep them a car out of in political formats and away from the streets. putin has actually seen on the square just outside the kremlin violent, basically enter ethnic violence by soccer hooligans after the killing of basically an ethnic russians buy soma from north caucasus. it's time to speak out against it. in cities all around russia. putin is very worried this will happen here. this is why ukraine is very important that it's very important for putin to show what can happen if someone has got a very strong fist. this is why we are in this situation right now. and this is where it could backfire because if this narrative gets out of control, if people see something different on the streets of ukraine they will start asking, hang on, what is this. putin has to keep his extremes on a very tight leash. this is why the co

the problem for all of its flaws, boris yeltsin basically accepted that. when time in the 1990's you had the russian parliament passed some laws that said ukrainians had sevastopol, yeltsin said the right thing, we respect ukraine's territorial integrity. the problem ukraine has now is vladimir putin is present -- is present and he does not believe that. the tools that ukraine has is limited. it is important they deal with crimea what they have done last week, which is to keep their military restraint. it has been very commendable, and there are probably about 12,000 troops on the crimean peninsula, they stayed on bases, they have not challenged the russians, they have been several cases where the russians have tried to provoke them and they have not responded. that is important. second point of looking out is -- let me say one must comment about the situation in crimea where i think it is little bit less tense in military terms than it was a couple of days ago. it is worrisome. russia and ukraine right now are one nervous 20-year-old soldier's mistake awa

yeltsin says situation good. what is the long answer? long answer is not good. [laughter] that's one way of introducing the topic. [laughter] but there's another, there's another way of introducing the topic of the state of the union. it also happens to take place in istanbul, and that's a speech which the prince of darkness, richard pearl, gave 12 or 13 years ago at a meeting organize toed by turks, the turkish foreign minister. and richard was going on about how hopeless, feckless, spineless the europeans were and that the european union was a complete, you know, complete wreck. there's nothing good to be said about it. and then he said, oh, yes, and it is unacceptable that they will not accept you, turkey, into their ranks. then, work of course, it came my turn to speak and i said, well, you know, there's a little bit of a problem here. if we're really spineless, hopeless, feckless as has been painted, it is a strange friend who would want to urge you turks to somewhere that particular -- to enter that particular community. so you can't have it both ways. but

that continued from gorbachev into yeltsin. from reagan into bush 41 and into the early years of the obama administration. that era is now behind us. we now have overtly put a leader in the kremlin who does not believe the fundamentals of the u.s.-russian relationship and the relationship between russia and the west is one of partnership. he sees it as adversarial. it is a new ballgame. by going over what i think is the ultimate red line with regards to russia -- the border around russia and actually grabbing a piece of territory from an independent, sovereign state and pulling that into russia, he has created not just a new fact on the ground but a new danger which is that we have a russia that is going to make great russian nationalism and going back and getting a hold of a territory where there are a lot of russians. that is a very dangerous development. it is what got the world into numerous wars in the early 20th century. we are going to have to rethink our strategic collations. >> will part of this retaliation be that he

russia has never been happy with that fortunately and actually yeltsin before him president yeltsin spoke about this morning more than one occasion. i mean we've heard don't want victoria newton said about the eu. her attitude. i know you is happy with that kind of relationship. but russia is not certainly the current russian leadership is naught but a redefining of relationship is what is needed and that's what ukraine cleared the shelves i'd like to i'd like to put the beds that are based in point to note that pesky at him is a reminder to the west that for the last two not decades now. in the west has been considering russia's something all the news are all the cold war. it has imagined they could be pulled back into the fold of the iaea international community. isaac as a partner in the meantime another know that it has been in place in moscow which has been watching. we did seven concerning unilateral actions by the united states the number of different national conference. and today in russia the ukraine at its heart has made its voice heard in a way that perhaps the west have been

president note this profound or a president ukraine promises to email the white house has confirmed the yeltsin uk is said to be present for obama in washington on wednesday meanwhile the russian president the new knitpicks and has today been defending the spy that for russian leaders in crimea to break away from ukraine. i don't say please inspect the british and german leaders like telephone. a referendum is set to take place next sunday the sixteenth of march. on the future all the crimea lieutenant own slang a muggle repeated opposition on that page. she says that the violation of the ukrainian constitution minutes against international call nails it with them too or you don't use the use of foreign policy chief catherine ashton is in the iranian capital sunday for series of meetings aimed at paving the way towards an agreement on islamic republic's nuclear program while holding talks with iran some foreign minister mohamed top and sunny. ashton said there are no guarantees that a final deal will be reached but at the moment is susan's story billed as a goodwill gesture but the opinion in t

yeltsin announced that japan will hold to other negotiations including talks for a new investment packed us president barack obama has as a group of seven leaders to discuss the situation in ukraine on the sidelines at next week's nuclear security summit in the netherlands a white house national security council spokesperson said the leaders will consider additional measures to assist ukraine they also likely to exchange views on further sanctions against russia. meanwhile dutch diplomatic sources disclose that the netherlands had received notice that putin will not attend the event. brash has not given an explanation but pretends absence but the confrontation between russia and western leaders of the crisis in ukraine is the most likely reason is to be the first time the president of russia will not be taking part in the summit. hk was a neo con explains what putin is trying to do and what happens next we can come up with an address by a long ride the finance. his most was annexed in crimea has a very sweet. should i went onto the podium and will come to a delegation from tiny and it wi

how to act in this current situation of helping us to get ready for the nimble mind aniston seen yeltsin up as clinton balconies gpt prime minister but since the jewish community and says his government would fight against any form of sexism that the people we spoke to do and some optimistic. the always be landing at times and now that sen is not his but the mustard stain is just too high. many of ukraine's choose to open access to tax will shift from synagogues to human targets we've seen on tv. supermodel crimea. delivering the law on the developments in ukraine and the rest returned from taking at the end what science has come under attack from the radical and satellite providers have been used to wear what i see at the anonymous threats. war stories is still coming up off the plate the eye. a technology integration. all new developments around russia. the future. and the us the word the doors stories you can do. changing the world likes. she was eight years. the roads the eye. mr tweed wallace the people of crimea war had sent the polls for the story based on whether they want to rem

during a joint news conference ukraine's acting prime minister abbas in the yeltsin years said that the kremlin's actions on the mind of what he recognized international treaty which was prevents the spread of nuclear weapons and ink artist disarmament let me remind you that in nineteen ninety four my country and abandoned by its three wheel. the nuclear weapon. this time we both lived was asked this service he has a nuclear arsenal in the world. his hair. one of the signatures of these not the troops. memorable. he invaded my country. violating international law. violated by elites in multilateral and bilateral deals. and they're showing items in my name the entire global nuclear nonproliferation says. x does argue that the treaty on the norm liberation of new kitten weapons has been weakened since russian aggression began. ukrainians that nobody is giving up the new catacombs in nineteen ninety four was a mistake adding that if they have to know the russian incursion wouldn't have occurred as the us continues to britain but the sanctions on russia officials from both countries have be

government and the pens on ukraine fruit salad cheese tea drinking want to owe much of its fruit yeltsin known as the jewel of crimea has always been one of the favorite tourist destinations amongst russians and residents of the former soviet union in nineteen forty five soviet leader josef stalin british prime minister winston churchill in u s president from henry's about matt for a story conference. but city of two residents are worried that the marks. when that might change the fortunes of the peninsula after all i need depends greatly on tourism. i am going to be in the new weekend. the sierra i think there will be an aunt to me new toys. but none the less thank all those stories will try to make sure that some will come. nicholas cocaine yet. it's like a fork in the quest grainy and the tilt to it. in

and president clinton did it with president yeltsin. president bush did it with president putin. president obama did it with medvedev who was in the presidency while putin put himself in the prime minister -- >> took a break. >> and each one has miscalculated in thinking they had a greater chance of success than they did. and it's a cycle. we see the same cycle again and again. and it hasn't been completely self-delusion. peter spent more time in moscow and knows this better but the russians have been divided between modernizers and oligarchs. and medvedev was the modernizer. and that was always the hope that if you could build up the medvedevs of russia, the ones who wanted to build a silicon valley and wanted to join the international economy, not so much the international community per se, then you would actually have a process going. but medvedev hasn't been a key figure. >> and miscalculation was thinking he was the future rather than a front man in effect for putin. >> remember the president's famous whisper to him. which is to tell putin i'll have -- john mccain is talking

as a kind of award for yeltsin for going along with western expansion of nato ii and the expansion of the eu further and further east so the body has never really had any significant interest the day in and influence in the world at all and certainly in terms of economic matters any economic body that doesn't include india china of the good news to mexico in several other important the economic players in the world in it highs as the milk the credibility once. alright well that is as far as foreign policy is concerned and russia's relationship with other blocks the g eight and its importance in g twenty which as i said earlier russia is a creator off. but let's now go back to the situation in ukraine. i mean what will be happening in kiev as real government there is not in control and the situation room i actually on the service line to chaos there. agree or disagree and understand the importance stressed during his speech did this a porch that has seized power in kiev of is that it completely illegitimate and russia sees no partner for negotiations or discussions there and does not r

russian tanks it never crossed the border but mr yeltsin and outlandish statements seem to get one noticed or are glossed over in the western media. you want the mosque of the reading josh. should he win and win a slam the us mainstream media for ignoring the staggering week which revealed it was ukraine's former opposition who allegedly ordered the shooting on my tea on the street called what the learned from that week's phone conversation between two of the eu zz top officials. well first the stony and foreign minister tells the eu is catherine ashton that it wasn't likely ukraine's new leadership and not the only ministry to hire the snipers second mr pyne says that he is seen evidence that the very same snipers spotted both writers and police and finally he expresses deep concern that the former opposition is reluctant to investigate the shootings. i did spend those revelations to be a game changer but they've received very little attention from western politicians and media outlets russia's ambassador to the un the tide turned and highlighted the issue unfortunately of the transcript

yeltsin known as the jewel of crimea has always been one of the favorite tourist destinations amongst russians in residence of the former soviet union in nineteen forty five soviet leader josef stalin british prime minister winston churchill in u s president from henry's about that for a historic conference. but city of two residents are worried that the mosques friend of mine changed the fortunes of the peninsula after all i need depends greatly on tourism. you may have limited the weekend. the sierra. i think there will be an aunt who may need to is like none the less i called the authorities will try to make sure that some will calm the coastal maine yeah it's like a fork in the quest grainy and the tilt to it. in phoenix. i think i should one pensioner from delta is concerned about recent developments in the region and hoped that the situation would not escalate into an armed conflict. which is ridiculous for you to come here. i think it will come again else that didn't come here they will not come but the most important thing for this change is looking to melt into armed conflict

snake is being used as a fishing baseball but it is this plus cough fishing vegetation has been under yeltsin as they could be used. this is kazakhstan film as a student comedy. today the federation's fourteen and the ncp dissipate to make development. and with conviction. and this often visit the fishing baits sportsman cheney and picked up the competitions in competitions open to listen to. however ahmed says he didn't mind the tianjin which i was expecting pay our main source of profits. soon to be human. the number of artistic season on the sportsman because of it is a nice day be just a phase which occasionally diver the common view of the group of friends that i didn't make themselves comfortable. ps its costs and all of that make maintenance and cleaning and the neon fish at the request financial expenditures to it look at that. money doesn't surprise anybody you don't want to make his emphasize all the conveniences and citizens of the five page as it wants the gifts of may th she does a body filled with books and it requires constant maintenance. makes one acquires attention to the fi

>> he is clearly someone who came to power as president and replacing president yeltsin for all of the democratic instinct and presided over a great loss of wealth in russia and loss of territory. putin came to pour in 2,000 and vowing to restore russia and getting respect abroad. and i think what we so now, is that how president putin defying that has changed. if in 2,000 he was one of the first people to call president bush, after the 9/11 attacks. he over ruled his war cabinet and green lighted the placement of american bases in central asia, it was because he saw russia's interest served by american fighting the taliban. i think now even though president putin has continued to help america by allows war planes to transent through russian air space in afghanistan, increasingly he is less interested in partnership with the west, and more interested in making russia strong at home and in a sense recreating some of what was lost when the soviet union fella part. >> part of what is going on. president putin sos it as an opportunity to stable otherwise the ports and in light of what happ

his first act was to give yeltsin and his family immunity. but yeltsin was a doddering drunk.tin had to come in and show the country there was someone in charge. the fact he needs to do it with his shirt off, he is an athlete. two points, we were talking about syria. i think the ability to avert military strikes, and i don't know why you don't think weapons of mass destruction and chemical weapons won't be destroyed per diplomacy, as according to war, was critical. we also need russia moving forward, for better or worse, to manage syria, to negotiate with iran, which is critical. to deal with terrorism. to manage china. the last point we were talking about is lbj, okay. lbj, to me, this is a measure of the -- how weak toughness is in our country. that is, he didn't want to escalate in vietnam. he didn't want to be perceived as soft on communism. so this ability to define wisdom, alternatives, as soft, led the toughest man in congressional history to escalate a war that was unnecessary and killed -- >> but i would also argue that obama didn't want to escalate in afghanistan, bu

i became familiar with the name litvinenko back in the 1990s where a book by yeltsin's first chief of presidential administration, a man of real democratic reputation and real integrity. and he was standing about provocations against him, arranged by some security services. they did not like litvinenko. and the man who was very much involved was mr. litvinenko. that was long before mr. litvinenko was out of favor. then, 1998 there was a press conference in moscow. mr. litvinenko, who just had left the federal security service, announces that there was a plot against boris berezovsky. it was a very dramatic conference, one little problem with it. the director was a man called vladimir putin, and only later, according to all available evidence, including the berezovsky testimony, it was berezovsky hill helped putin to become russian premise to. berezovsky thought that putin was plotting to kill and to berezovsky would hardly be promoting putin. so that whole press conference was a farce. and there were many of the things. obviously, polonium when you kill somebody with polonium in londo

be theirs, always theirs, the fact that it was kind of slow down the river as they say, and then yeltsinas not popular. so it will strengthen his popularity. the rest of the world is not going to be happy about this and there will be sanctions. the attitude i found here to the sanctions is pretty much simple. this is our business. so it's not like a lot of people are frightened by what may have, although yesterday in moscow there was a large demonstration between 50,000 and 80,000 people demonstrated against russia's taking in crimea, but still that's a very small minority. >> vladimir posner, sorry for the audio complications there from moscow. appreciate your insight. and nick paton walsh, thank you so much. >>> in the meantime, we'll talk murder about the mysterious disappearance of a flight. more scrutiny for the men flying flight 370. the latest on what investigators have found as they look at the pilots of that missing plane. ♪ [ male announcer ] nothing says, "you're my #1 copilot," like a milk-bone biscuit. ♪ say it with milk-bone. bob will retire when he's 153, which would be fi

he, strategy of campaigning, lessons from ronald reagan and boris ellio yeltsin. what is russia trying to do? good russia is testing the new government in kiev. i don't think russia wants to invade but it is dispatching troops in crimea, president yanukovych flew back to his home base in donetske. later on wound up in russia. russia is in a defensive posture in some respects but are pushing the kiev government just as it good in the jann government in 2008. >> you're from the russian ukraine. what do you think the russians are doing? >> i think it's important to remember the domestic political situation both in ukraine and crimea. ukraine is one of the weakest moments in history, the country is essentially bankrupt. the ex-president has dubious legitimate legitimacy. there was a lot of reshuffling at the top of the command structure in the armed forces and just recently, yesterday, the new leader, the new prime minister of crimea was elected and that person is a representative or the leader of so-called russian unity block, which is a prorussian political force th

and it looks as if the tendency is going to words the left pluralism then there was under yeltsin but it's very hard. if the state has some people describe it as a rather scholarly term that has to do with the close relationship between economic and political defeats but it is a hybrid system that i still think we have a difficulty in understanding exactly how it works. >> you can watch all of the programs featured over the last hour or numerous other programs on the foreign affairs on our website, booktv.org. historian carol berkin is next on booktv. she recounts the life of elizabeth bonaparte the onetime wife of the brother jerome and a native of baltimore maryland. this is a little under an hour. [applause] >> thank you for coming out on a cold night. elizabeth patterson bonaparte was a legend, curiosity walking slowly down the streets in the 1870s, her trademark held high above her head to protect her from sun or rain. on the other arm she carried in a laboratory and the wished bag that was rumored to hold all of her jewels to rea rate her dress no longer fashionable perhaps made

. >> kosovo happened when russia was week under boris yeltsin's rule. that was a humiliation for russia. it is now flushed with hydrocarbon revenues and is stronger under putin's leadership. we don't appreciate the degree to which kosovo was the humiliation for vladimir putin, that is why steve was right, what vladimir putin is doing now is repaying the favour. >> i wonder, should the u.s. be involved in the crisis to begin with, since it's unclear to a lot of people, what the united states interest is. why should we get involved especially when russia seems to have to much. >> viktor yanukovych was not a particularly effective leader. he was not popular. we should have waited for him to be voted out of office and for us to fit in favour of the protesters was a mistake, because we didn't anticipate what vladimir putin was likely to do. >> you think it was unexpected. must have been. we shouldn't have done it, understanding that vladimir putin had more cards to play. russia's interest in this region is greater than ours. we are a more powerful country. i

he is the author of "eternal russia: yeltsin, gorbachev, and the mirage of democracy".here in new york, we are joined by keith gessen, editor at n plus one magazine. his latest co- authored editorial is called "ukraine, putin, and the west." he covered the 2010 ukraine elections for the new yorker magazine. welcome all to democracy now! let's begin with debo adegbile --anton shekhovtsov, the referendum wanted to succeed from the ukraine. >> thank you for the invitation. i would agree with the former prime minister and president barack obama that this referendum is absolutely illegitimate for three reasons. first of all, it is against the ukrainian constitution to hold a referendum in the autonomous republic of crimea. second, it is not possible to hold free and fair referendum in this situation when crimea is now invaded by the russian troops and pro-russian separatists. , it is not possible to technicalerendum in terms because the database has been blocked by the voters -- of the voters, so the authorities in crimea do not have access to the voter base. they can not fu

boris yeltsin's downfall and ndeadimir putin's rise to power.e was the editor of a weekly independence news in holland. he was a correspondent for the london independent based in washington, dc before leaving for -- and earlier in his career he worked for the bbc as a renturnalist. he holds a bs from the london school of economics and studied polish. mr. lucas is the author of a new book entitled "the new cold war" which he'll talk about this afternoon with all of us, for about 20 minutes, and then we'll open the floor up -- i raul use the prerogative chair to ask one or two questions and then open it to all of you. mr. lucas. >> guest: well, thank you very much for that gracious instruction and thank you to radio free europe, radio linter, the chance to talk here. i have the most longest and happiest memories of radio free europe, dating to the time when i used to listen to the czech service to try to find out what was going on. the best news seemed to come via munich. so, it's a great perspective to be here. and i want to start off by just mak

. >> speaking to the former prime minister of russia under yet sip and poout -- yeltsin and putin. he is been in the upper sanction. he says putin doesn't like compromise and seas compromise as weakness and the west is week. as long as sanctions are strong and tart the -- target the right people. some of the people will say, "look, we have to rethink this thing", the one chilling thing was if they are not strong and they are not on the right people, he said vladimir putin will be encouraged, emboldened and may, indeed, go further in ukraine and go into eastern ukraine. >> that is something everyone is trying to avoid at this point. >> dana louis live from london. >> serbians are voting in parliamentary elections. the leading progressive power is expected to owe party. it owes much of its success to its leader, the deputy premier, al jazeera's correspondent has the latest. >> front runner in another serbian parliamentary election casting his ballot on sunday morning. deputy prime minister in counter government voouk voouk -- voouk -- vucic is expected to be the favourite. >> i expec

of russian history, with the exception of gorbachev, and possibly the first post-soviet president yeltsinument there, putin is the least authoritarian, let's call him the most soft authoritarian of russian rulers in centuries. by the way, so far as it matters, because jews and the status of jews in russia is often a barometer of how russian rulership treats its society, putin has been better for russian jews than any leader in russian history and if you want evidence of that, just ask israel. >> what about this -- the new imperialism? why should it be taken as a natural given that russia would send troops into parts of georgia and to parts of ukraine every time it feels its interests are adversely effective. it does seem neo imperialist, no? >> we could argue this for hours but we could do the analogy. what if suddenly russian power showed up in canada and mexico and provinces of canada and mexico said they were going to join putin's euro asian economic union and the military block. the president would have to act as forcefully as putin has. >> i don't think if canada were to say it wante

90s when president clinton decided to offer that sort of as a good will gesture to then president yeltsin. at the time, russia was basically on the u.s. side. the soviet union had collapsed. it all sort of happened rather pie peacefully. all these new laws and republics became independent. what's happened since, there have been periods of cooperation between russia and the west and periods of real tension and cooperation. we are going through one of those now. the second presidency of vladimir putin has marked a dramatic escalation tension between russia and the united states, between russia and the west. the fact of the matter is when it comes to the g-8 russia is not a democracy. president putin has consolidated power to an extent that basically gives no room for any legitimate opposition, the press are rounded up and put in jail at any drop of the how the. right now, alexi nuvoni, one of the senior liberal politicians in russia, right after the sochi game, when vladimir putin was putting on this fantastic show for the world, he gets put under arrest. the direction is clear. what needs

that is essentially the playbook that russia has been following in the former soviet union since the yeltsin era. a former soviet state moves a. from russia. the russians gin up unarrest among the ethnic population, and allows russia to send in troops under the pretext they're protecting their people, and then the troops say. and you have seen that in georgia z georgia and armenia, and they have created de facto russian protectorates to weaken governments trying to get away from them. >> does this pattern suggest where l he would move into -- whether he would move into the eastern ukraine or is the thinking this might be what he wants, just the warm-water port. >> that's my assumption. i thick if he could get away with it he would move into easternian -- eastern ukraine but that's a much bigger pill to swallow. >> his market went down 12% in one day. wondered if he wasn't going to continue this thing and move it into eastern ukraine and when he saw his markets drop and his oligarchs start breathing down his neck, i wonder. >> it's definitely part of his calculation, and this decline in the r