western diplomat. when it comes to russia because. i think there's a lot of understanding there's also a lot of compassion in your book and i really appreciate that but i will want to ask you whether you ever felt that you are giving this country an easy pass i don't think i think that the majority of the content of my book deals with the sometimes very disagreeable parts of russia's history i've got a chapter on the leg museum i've got a chapter on the jewish museum of tolerance and i talk very frankly in those two chapters of some of the black spots in russia's history. and i think what i felt as a former professional diplomat for thirty years and i was an ambassador to poland and. the mother asked postings. i felt i had a certain responsibility to my own society to say look we are being fed. bad fantasies about russia the real russia is not what we're being told about. i want to go and i want to see what it's like and my process of disenchantment from the western propaganda machine against russia it really began pretty much in interest and fourteen with the events in ukraine and the w

i'm asking you about is the propensity of the russia to produce these ad hoc actions what you're saying is that as the russians they sometimes outsource but i think also what many foreigners don't understand is this cold which the russian system allows for personal and sometimes even eleven and malevolent initiative absolutely. sometimes. the state is using it but there are many other. strange mixture of private. commercial and sometimes there are people with some political use. the maybe believe the russians the. russian state the kremlin. without actually the kremlin for asking the kremlin first absolutely to believe the. controls. with what is happening in russia or they have also come to. see that our society is much much much worse organized and i think the importance on competency when it comes to social media is rather questionable it is well known that he's not using smartphones so he's knowledge of. tool of communication. maybe he's in charge so maybe he's his divine chris should be indicted after all now if you look at some of the output of the troll sweatshop it uses m

outside not from russia not from china but from the inside of society and that came as such a big shock to us establishment they think what we see now or around russia and this hyper will ization over russian activities is psychological or understandable and to find. out the united states who is responsible for this while the real problem is in. the open quote george h. w. bush has said that america won the cold war by the grace of god which definitely solidified the u.s. perception as a sort of god's chosen nation where the mission and i think. and you also said a number of occasions that he see the current tensions as either the withering or perhaps the painful death of that very mission which actually began. before trumpet it started. but what trumps it's offering you know they say america first slogan it could be used as a legitimate policy but this is not the south narrative it does not answer the question of who we are as a nation what could possibly come to replace that sounds of mission of you know sort of pushing their foreign towards democratic salvation. limited extent i know

disagreeable parts of russia's history i've got a chapter on the leg museum i've got a chapter on the jewish museum of tolerance and i and i talk very frankly in those two chapters of some of the black spots in russia's history and i think what i felt as a former professional diplomat for thirty years and i was an ambassador to poland and to get by idea that was my last postings. i felt i had a certain responsibility to my own society to say look we are being fed. bad fantasies about russia the real russia is not what we're being told about. i want to go and i want to see what it's like and my process of disenchantment from the western propaganda machine against russia it really began pretty much in interest thousand and fourteen with the events new crime and the way in which they were being reported now i hope we will go into the ukrainian events a little bit later on into the program but. you mentioned the this negative image of russia and russia is definitely not an easy country it's a very complex society it's sometimes a very contorted country and i think we the russians are the first t

russian nationals on charges of conspiracy has further entrenched both sides of the russia gate narrative those who believe that kremlin tried to have democracy deep in their conviction as did those who insist that the whole story wasn't of sore losers whatever it was or was and russia's role in the two thousand and sixteen u.s. presidential campaign perception is reality how should moscow navigated well to discuss that i'm now joined by further one of russia's top geopolitical analyst and editor in chief of russian global affairs magazine mr look and if it's good to talk to you thank you for coming over now first let me ask you about the so-called same petersburg troll factory in western media it's presented as this huge ominous operation but if you look at the sheer number of people involved and the size of the budget it's not even a factor it's a tiny little swatch of three employ more people at the archies cafeteria actually indicted why do you think it's gotten these larger than life notoriety. and maybe you should promote you. more well i think. a cafeteria no english pretty much as

against truck during his investigation into his presidential campaigns links with russia more than half a dozen high profile u.s. corporations are cutting ties with the national rifle association following last week's shooting at a florida high school they say they'll no longer offer discounts to the n.r.a. five million members it follows a social media campaign by gun control activists calling for a boycott on brands who partnered with the organization that extra soldiers have been deployed in the search for more than one hundred nigerian schoolgirls kidnapped by boko haram on monday angry parents say the government has failed to protect their children the abductions in the town of duck she casts doubt on the government's claims that it's defeated the armed group of course you can follow all of those stories by logging onto our website at al-jazeera dot com back with more news in a half an hour next on al-jazeera it's up front do stay with us. news has never then more available but the message is simplistic and misinformation is rife listening post provides a critical counterpoint

russia is much weaker than the united states but it can be compensated by by some. what i'm asking you about is the propensity of the of russia to produce these ad hoc actions what you're saying is that yes the russian state sometimes outsourcing is that but i think also what many foreigners don't understand is this call which the russian system allows for personal and sometimes even eleven and malevolent initiative yeah absolutely that's what i wanted to say and sometimes it is the case that. the state is using it but in many other cases this is a strange mixture of private initiative commercial initiative sometimes there are people with some political use. they they do it the maybe believe. russian state but it's not. developmental competency that the russian state the kremlin may cheer upon without actually the kremlin for asking the kremlin first absolutely and to believe that mr putin. controls. with what is happening in russia or. our society is much much much worse organized and i think. putting it on competency when it comes to social media is rather questionable it is well kno

gets you through the long russian winter but i suspect when you say russia in their struggle and contacts. the associations are probably not so positive are they. they can be quite negative unfortunately we have been fed a diet of cliches about russia. russia is still very much seen through a post soviet lens as the success the state to the soviet union and somehow or other images of go leg and stuff in the countries of extreme cold discomfort of rudeness and these are the kinds of things that unfortunately still linger on and you wrote the whole book to address some of those negative stereotypes and i think you have a very unusual take for a western or former western diplomat. when it comes to russia because. i think there's a lot of understanding there's also a lot of compassion in your book and i really appreciate that but i will want to ask you whether you ever felt that you are giving this country an easy pass i don't think i think that the majority of the content of my book deals with the sometimes very disagreeable parts of russia's history i've got a chapter on the leg mu

when russia decided to hold a mirror to their west own imperfections including by setting up this child it turned out western tolerance to criticism is even more why is it so difficult to communicate pointing out what's wrong with one another well to discuss that i'm now joined by tony cabin a former diplomat and the author of a book called return to moscow well mr cavanaugh it's great to have you in the studio thank you very much for your time and happiness charlie a day thank you very much. now when you say australia in the russian context it conjures up an image of a beautiful faraway land with a bright sun blue sky beautiful beaches with friendly people who spent most of that time surfing and i know it's a typical but i think it's a nice mental picture to get you through the long russian winter but i suspect when you say russia and there's trial and contacts. the associations are probably not so positive are they. they can be quite negative unfortunately we've been fed a diet of cliches about russia. russia is still very much seen through a post soviet lens. of success the state to

represents russia's redemption as a global superpower and an alternative to the liberal democracy espoused by the west. russia's foreign policy, next on great decisions. (theme music) - [narrator 2] great decisions is produced by the foreign policy association, in association with thomson reuters. funding for great decisions is provided by price waterhouse coopers llp. (mournful russian music) (applause) the world changed in 1991 when the soviet flag was lowered for the last time over the kremlin. in its place was raised the flag of russia and what many hoped would symbolize a new era of freedom and western-style democracy. - by the fall of 1991, russia was moving towards independence in agreement with other soviet republics. the soviet union was about to be dismantled. - [polyakova] people including myself who lived in the soviet union at the time didn't see it coming. people were ready for a change. they wanted western values. they wanted democracy. (epic russian music) - [yelchenko] there was a lot of hope that the new russia which also became an independent state, like every o

elections and president vladimir putin. former ambassador to russia and nato, former russian foreign minister and journalist sat down for the discussion at the council last month. >> good morning. thank you all for coming. we have a wonderful program for you this morning. i should mention, this is part of our series on internal developments in russia. we began with a session on dem og graph ee, this is on politics. next month, we are doing a session on the russian economy, followed by session in april on energy segment in russia. we have a treat here. wonderful alliance of speakers. i will not describe them expect to say she's a top notch journalist from moscow, has written a provocative, fascinating paper on russia politically. and i'll turn it over. >> i want to extend gratitude for inviting me and asked me to write a paper. and thank you for coming for this event. weave witnessing what's now in history, mussolini and franco spain and portugal. there's not conspiracy in the story i am outlining. when vladimir putin has become the president, he brought with him a whole range of peop

i remember well i guess when it comes to pole winning. all rivals russia and the u.s. helping each other out in force it works both ways and here with me i got the silver medalist in luge chris master who definitely knows what i'm talking about and he's ready to tell us about a story that happened to him a few months ago as far as a descent chris hi again congratulations and what's that story was the russian athlete i guess helping you out yeah thank you very much who is it was a couple weeks ago where i was having a very difficult last season people were starting to reach out and help me and there was a specific russian athlete he offered me help for technical help with with my pod with with fiberglass with with aerodynamics and although it didn't work because a much larger than he is the fact that he was willing to reach out and help me and such like a desperate time shows that sport can bridge you know cultures it can bridge politics that we can connect on the human level through sports and that's that's really what embodies the olympics here is that so many countries are coming

russia's own presidential election next month going to be the last one of putin's leading opponents and speak to a former top cia spy. i marry her son russian leader vladimir putin will run for president again next month in what is sure to be a guaranteed victory given that is only viable opponent has been barred from running so we'll putin be president for life or is there a version of russian democracy that exists in spite of him that's our debate but first they putin's russia collude with donald trump during the twenty sixteen u.s. presidential election former f.b.i. chief robert mueller who's investigating that claim last week indicted thirteen russians and three russian organizations but did the campaign participate in the election meddling and should the u.s. really be lecturing russia on undermining foreign elections given how many governments the cia has undermined and even toppled this week's headline from critic former top spy and twenty eight year veteran of the cia and its clandestine service john cypher. john thanks for joining me on up front the latest indictments from

counsel robert mueller's russia investigation, from his recent indictment of 13 russians and three companies on friday to today's very important charges against the son-in-law of the ukrainian russian oligarch tied to paul manafort and rick gates. and at last school shooting in parkland, florida. the president says he supports improving the background check system, but the furor over gun control is growing. there's also the report of changes to the white house security clearance policy that were made by the chief of staff, general john kelly. and we cannot involve the -- forget the ever-evolving travel scandal surrounding david schulkin and epa press secretary, scott pruitt. both secretaries are accused of abusing to those level at john price, who was forced to resign over that scandal. we're expecting to hear from the president later this hour, by the way. separately during a medal of valor award ceremony. he's already been quite vocal today, where else but on twitter. i think he sent 30 tweets in the last three days. he's tweeted ten times today, on everything from russia to the

winter but i suspect when you say russia in their struggle in context. the associations are probably not so positive are they. they can be quite negative unfortunately we've been fed a diet of cliches about russia. russia is still very much seen through a post soviet lens as the successor to the soviet union and somehow or other images of. starvation in the country of extreme cold discomfort of. the kinds of things that unfortunately still linger and you wrote the whole book to address some of those negative stereotypes and i think you have a very unusual take for a western or former western diplomat. when it comes to russia because. i think there's a lot of understanding there's also a lot of compassion in your book and i really appreciate that but i will want to ask you whether you ever felt that you are giving this country an easy pass i don't think i think that the majority of the content of my book. deals with the sometimes very disagreeable parts of russia's history i've got a chapter on the leg museum i've got a chapter on the jewish museum of tolerance and i and i talked very

from the former u.s. ambassador to russia and nato, a russian journalist, and russia's first foreign minister. ais is about an hour and half. john: good morning. my name is john herbst. i run the eurasian center here at the atlantic council. thank you all for coming. we have a wonderful program for you this morning. and i should mention that this is part of our series on internal developments in russia. we began with a session in october on demography in russia. and this of course is on politics. next month, we are doing a session on the russian economy, followed by a session a session probably in april on energy sector in russia. we have a real treat for you this morning. we have a wonderful line of speakers. i will not describe them except to say yevgenia albats, a top-notch journalist from moscow, who has written a very provocative and a fascinating paper on russia politically. foreign minister kozyrev will comment on that, as will eugene rumer from carnegie. and ambassador and former deputy secretary nato, sandy vershbow will bat cleanup for us this morning. and with that i will

mentioned these negative image of russia and russia is definitely not an easy country it's a very complex society it's sometimes a very contorted country and i think we the russians are the first to you know and experience that and i think that actually goes to the very notion of russian patriotism it's loving russia is it's a bit like caring for the disabled loved one you know the disability you hate them but you love the person all the more because of that and that is actually i think the most moving part of your book for me that you accept those disabilities rather than the typical western scolding that russia is not good enough but what i thought find even more troubling is that that's cold thing that irritated russians a lot if you years back now seems acceptable because it essentially dick rest into the open bigotry why do you think this lack of compassion not even the lack of basic decency towards this country has become so does your mental conditioning and mutual propagandizing to the point where people come to believe each other if they keep telling each other that's good you kno

f.b.i. was spending too much time investigating and allegations of collusion with russia during the twenty sixteen election campaign i mean celebrations in kosovo's capital to mark ten years of independence from serbia security forces marched through pristina as part of a weekend of festivities achieved autonomy in two thousand and eight after years of conflict sovereignty is recognized by more than one hundred countries including the u.s. and most of the e.u. it's yet to be recognized by serbia russia or china. to stay with us inside stories up next on that. thirteen russians have been accused of interfering in the us presidential elections to sway the vote in favor of. these indictments do not mention collusion and moscow says the charges are irrelevant but the broader investigation is far from over so what happens next this is inside story. hello and welcome to the program today with me peter davi russia's alleged interference in the twenty sixteen presidential election in the united states is long plagued donald trump since he took office and now a federal grand jury has conclud

russian president boris yeltsin, and how they influence the new russia after the dissolution of the ussr. the university of virginia's center convened scholars at the conference looking at the complicated history between the u.s. and russian leaders in the 20th century. the discussion included assessments of presidents like ronald reagan, and john kennedy are and their russian counterparts. riyad. about one hour to >> as with the end of the cold war, breathtaking speed and just when you think you are beginning to digest what happened by 1992, wait there is a new administration in office and we are going to have that explain to us. >> let me start with a couple of ironies. i do remember as a reporter, when the bush administration came in, it was a little scratchy with the reagan administration going out. i do recall a pause, the secretary of state wanted to make sure he was not captured by the building and that kind of thing. when four years later the clinton administration came in, all i can say is bill clinton picked up exactly where bush 41 was. it was an extraordinary transition.

russia, we begin with demographyoctober on in russia. >> we have a topnotch journalist from moscow, he's presented a and fascinating on russia politically. comment on that. former deputy secretary general will bat cleanup for us this morning and turn it over to the doctor. >> thank you very much. extend our to the re gratitude to ambassador, who invited me and to write a paper to center.cil and the thank you very much for coming for this event. persistence, of the he main topic paper that i wrote, and then we haveer, i argue that been witnessing the of the regime in ussia, which is now in istory -- italy, mussolini, and portugal. o be sure, there is no -- no conspiracy in the story that i'm outlining. that when guing has becomeimir putin the president of the russian confederation in 2000 he broke the whole range of people from his old job, the the years, in a first of eight years, eight years, they staffed all russian government to the apparatus of the government, the administration. result, by 2008, almost 67% of all positions in the top russian the nomenclature, occupied by the k

wouldn't it and it has to do with economic cooperation between russia and austria. because you would also in your opinion what are the prospects for that kind of cooperation taking into account the well known difficulties in the relation between brussels and moscow so what are the prospects for implementing such projects as the north streams. the. wide goal which railway from question such a vienna thank you. if i get an extra minute to thank you for your question if. you like to highlight the back of that. their opinion i have a very positive positively through first to see the relations between us and david being developing in the gulf and this with the kurdish leaders. and we'll talk that at heart today during the lunch. we'll be here in langley also i can single out two points first the strategic interest we have by the russian and. the only interest. to. the wide goal which railroad coming as far as australia as far as we hear in. the last week we saw the meeting of the ministers for transportation we have a very. high level of appreciation when it comes to this project. and ben

and have been a jewish by descent i've expected a degree of that to semitism in russia. i didn't encounter it and i was enormously impressed with the jewish museum. i found the presentation of the jewish contribution to russian history and culture right through the years since russia conquered parts of poland in the jewish population of poland and below russia became russian citizens that whole story was fascinating i left that museum with the spirit of uplift because i folk this means that russia and its row getting on the path of decent mutually respectful relationship. issues a respectful relationship between russia and israel is not a problem i think they are now a little bit concerned that the personal relationship between putin and benjamin netanyahu is endangering the middle east peace process because everybody's so accommodating towards israel but rather than going into international affairs i want to ask you know specifically about the logic and putin has been in power of on and off for eighteen years and you've just recently speaking at one of the conferences here in ru

course of the last couple of days. russia and everything that falls from that indictment in friday and certainly the russia investigation. as you and jamie were just talking about, about guns. one different person, one different player in this equation here in washington, in a debate we've seen time and time again. that new player is president trump. will he take a leadership position and roll with his party? he has sort of the history of being on both sides of this. before he joined politics, before he ran for office, he was in favor of some type of ban on assault weapons. of course, he changed his position during the campaign. of course, gun is the topic. i was in palm beach with him over the weekend when he was supposed to be getting a break in mar-a-lago over president's weekend. tweeting saying he has done more than the obama administration. that has to be unpacked and fact checked with the white house press secretary. and seizing on the washington post story. i like the fact that he's reading newspapers but certainly interesting that he seized on that story. so many things to ask

man's wounded pride and his revenge a man who experienced russia's loss of superpower status and who wants to restore his homeland to its former glory. in twenty twelve bloody murder putin was elected russian president for another six years. the former k.g.b. agent had now already ruled the country for twelve years during which he restored order to a country facing disintegration silence the opposition and brought the media into line but the pomp of the inauguration ceremony was deceptive the election had left putin weaker than ever before. the largest demin. since the collapse of the soviet union spread across the country the protesters condemned alleged election fraud and called for putin's resignation falling oil prices were causing widespread economic hardship and corruption was rife couldn't himself was accused of becoming one of the richest men in the world through graft. the ruler in the kremlin was very worried and hid himself in his palace. and he started to fight back using a tried and tested method accusing the west america and the cia of conspiring against him. and we do

humanitarian cease fire in syria now russia agreed to back the deal at the last minute as long as no starting date for the truce was set the ceasefire is aimed at allowing desperately needed aid to reach civilians in eastern guta more than five hundred people have been killed in the rebel held area near damascus in the past week. the bombs have been raining down on eastern good for an entire week. a smoking and. ash filled the sky over this rebel held district near damascus those on the ground continue to pull victims from the rubble they've been under siege here for years but casualties are now spiking sharply. the survivors are being treated in a makeshift hospital near damascus activists say this is the work of indiscriminate cluster and phosphorous bombs fired by the syrian regime children to bear witness to the carnage. in another missile landed but it was a small one thank god it was bigger the whole neighborhood would have been wiped out. amid the bombing world powers have hesitated for days on how to find common ground to stop the bloodshed. on saturday the un security counci

will remain empty for two years. but some of russia's top hematology called the ruling nonsense while dr masood in this call leagues and former patients were simply stunned now i feel that a future is being taken away from the person who saved my life and lives of many other yes that's unfair i am getting the michoud in. every scene medic understood that a person who fully deserved to be acquitted was being put behind bars and that means all of us doctors may end up in prison where all you learn the missing if we get punished just for following correct procedures then will be afraid to do our jobs as doctors the support campaign online is gathering pace with age just we starved hash tag and you me and me sued in the social network posts profile pictures being changed snape did it wish there was that it did you know that in the courtroom after she was already handcuffed the last thing she said to her husband was not about her child but about our patients she asked that they be taken care of so a doctor who was already convicted who should have been angry had not cared but was still thi

the downing of a russian warplane of it live province on saturday russia's defense ministry says the pilot ejected from the jet but was killed in a ground fight in the town of sarcasm human rights watch says bahrain has deported eight people to water on iraq after a vocal message isn't chip and making them stateless the eight deportivo are among thirty one activists and human rights lawyers who citizenship was revoked in two thousand and twelve on the grounds of damaging national security. the palestine liberation organization has moved to cut ties with israel p.l.o. leaders met in the occupied west bank on saturday ordering the palestinian government to draft a plan to cut off political economic and security contacts i have the news hour twenty five minutes. seven turkish soldiers are killed in the northern syrian district of a screen turkey it says the operation is crucial to defeat what it calls terrorists and establish a buffer zone but how much of a challenge is that and could this lead to a quagmire for this is inside story. and i welcome to the program i'm jane doc in the

cause of the current u.s. russia confrontation now nato officials insist a ring was and is the number one and russia all of us least sees it as a threat it's always been very open and honest about seeing it at the threat was nato getting closer to russia's borders do you think there could be a direct conflict is it on the cards i think it's very unlikely i think both of our countries recognize that could lead to very serious problems and so i think we will see restraint on both the united states and russia so that we don't need a new conflict the danger is not the door leaders will plan a conflict but the fact that our troops are so close together it might be an accident we went blunder into some kind of contact so that's the danger of the situation not the intent on the other side but sometimes events get out of control . of the leaders. do you think there's a limit to nato expansion. why in your opinion does need to need members like macedonia or montenegro does the alliance operate by the principle of the more the better no i don't think so factor you can argue that you dilute the

russia over election meddling could target the banks that are funding a huge buildup of alms they key to the country's weapons exports that are worth billions of euros and of crucial for the economy the kremlin is trying to find ways to protect the state owned lenders from any risk. weapons have traditionally been a booming business in russia. last year russia export a twelve billion euros worth of arms to fifty three nations private banks usually play a key role managing arms exports but many of them are now subject to u.s. sanctions potentially throwing a wrench into russia's well oiled arms industry until moscow repurposed the problem spawn that is the bank manages russian arms transactions and keeps them hidden. though social so that the courts. establishing a network of companies is all you need to transfer money. from the outside it's not at all transparent still it's not the king it was a shell who. until recently. was a private lender catering to the middle class but at the end of last year the bank found itself at the brink of collapse in january moscow responded by nationali

and i know that most foreigners believe that russia is this very tightly controlled society and politically that may be the case sometimes but i wonder if you allow for a possibility. conceived and funded this operation who is sometimes referred to as putin's former chef was actually doing that on his own as an experiment with social media rather than following or trying to execute direct orders from the kremlin. i have no idea both relationship between mr pretty goes on mr putin but based on my more this knowledge about how russian society ministration work in general i don't because the specificity of current russian system unlike the soviet system where everything was really centralized and very much well organized. now we have the opposite situation yes the state. obviously uses some how to call it nontraditional means sometimes to compensate for all those weaknesses of russian russian system because it's no secret that. many components of influence power economy capacity russia is much weaker than the united states but it can be compensated by by some. what i'm asking you a

. which. has. all come to sophie and co i'm sophie shevardnadze a new sanctions loom in the u.s. russia stand off what is a spat mean for the world and is terror on amps to it my guest today is matthew borrows a cia veteran alice and a former national intelligence councilor. chaos in the middle east the nuclear threat in korea the trade war between russia and the west the world order is being tested a multiple for. yes and without a clear bipolar a system or sole superpower good well we'll all be on the verge of collapse will and lead in this world that once itself and find ways to move forward was a doomed to descend into chaos and anarchy. dr matthew burris a cia veteran analyst and a former national intelligence council who welcomed to the show it's really great to have you on our program so matthew the world is no longer split into one during the cold war and clearly u.s. isn't leading the world like it's tried to in the ninety's so she will be bracing ourselves for a cast in this new lateral reality chaos may be a strong word certainly instability because i don't think we have real

international olympic committee lives doping ban on russia the athletes tests at the pyongyang the winter olympics they came back negative and why were investigative reporter young and his fiance martina over shot dead could there be a link to what turned out to be the final story. barbara goff it's good to have you with us reports are coming in tonight that the german government's computers have been hit in a cyber attack berlin confirming that a group infiltrated the foreign and defense ministries and may have stolen sensitive data sources say a hacking group with alleged links to the russian government broke into the government's network the attacks were apparently discovered in december but were only made public today the. ministry of the interior confirmed tonight of the attacks took place. our let's bring in our political correspondent all over salad he's on the story for us tonight here in berlin good evening to you oliver so we've got the german government confirming that the federal id system has been attacked and breached what sort of attacks are we talking about here that's rig

either because as i said it's an integrated system with russia it has a russian flag on it they're not going to take out russia's surface defense system because it would be unacceptable they know that so they took out a control tower or something like that but you know what do they do next does a except there's do they say well look the air defenses of syria in lebanon are only going to get better in the long term we must try and take an early preemptive action to destroy them before they become even better what are they going to do or are they going to say well we have to just come to terms with the reality much as we dislike it that we have a lot of our military how we got in there. except thing it did doesn't seem part of their d.n.a. i think culturally almost impossible to accept i think they would try and find some means to avoid exceptions i think one of the let me jump in here we're going to go to a short break and after that short break we'll continue our discussion on the middle east stay with our team. join me every thursday on the alex salmond show and i'll be speaking t

push russia out of europe and then again kate terms you mentioned that would be. a tragedy it reflected all of the pieces of the book that is the belief in their exclusiveness the strife the mutual suspicions and their bet to create descend into a corner and send buffer zones and meddling into other states affairs and those memories are even more worrisome if we would compare them with today with their attempts to a new modern historic truth of the second world war and the preceding events that tempts to rehabilitate to the next season and that. in certain countries of the e.u. they lost because the nazis and their allies. and the liberators of europeans will for they demolish the monuments dedicated to those who defeated fascism for the second world war and boardroom of the problems on the continent afterwards should have convinced the peoples of the lack of alternatives to building in common and home without debating people into our own enemies the integration of a project of the e.u. it goes back to the founding fathers who wanting to avoid their laps of the confrontational

us forces them to black and white. in countries like russia china church people are told and if you're a journalist there and you try to get beyond it you are facing scare tactics intimidation. and i wonder is that where we're headed as well. my responsibility as a journalist is to get beyond the smoke and mirrors it's not just about being fair and balanced or being neutral it's about being truthful. finding his point golf and i work with you know. this is a story of one man's wounded pride and his revenge a man who experienced russia's loss of superpower status and who wants to restore his homeland to its former glory. in twenty twelve bloody mere putin was elected russian president for another six years. the former k.g.b. agent had now already ruled the country for twelve years during which he restored order to a country facing disintegration silence the opposition and brought the media into line but the pomp of the inauguration ceremony was deceptive the election had less . putin weaker than ever before. the largest demonstrations since the collapse of the soviet union spread

russian president boris yeltsin, and how they influence the new russia after the dissolution of the ussr. the university of virginia's cv looked at the complicated histor -- miller center look to the complicated history of the u.s. and russia. it included discussions of franklin, richard nixon, and ronald reagan as well as the russian counterpart. this is about one hour. >> as with the end of the cold and justthtaking speed when you think you are beginning by 1992, what happened wait there is a new administration in office and we are going to have that explain to us. >> let me start with a couple of ironies. reporter,ber as a when the bush administration came in, it was a little reagany with the administration going out. , therecall a pause secretary of state wanted to make sure he was not captured by the building and that kind of thing. years later the clinton administration came in, all i can say is bill clinton picked up exactly where bush 41 was. it was an extraordinary transition. inauguration, a number of people including those you have heard from, and are going to hear from d

being established by russia but they came under heavy shelling from militants preventing civilians from leaving the besieged district the situation in the enclave was discussed at a un security council meeting. the assad regime and their supporters have been pummeling eastern ghouta where four hundred thousand people live under siege and constant bombardment needs to be understood and still legitimate targets of minute operations they are asking civilians to leave eastern good to on the false premise that they can then attack anyone left in the area as much as they would like. pre-set someone's the civilians. because we've been through this before we know what russia will say today you know you done they will say that there are terrorists in eastern guta so the assad regime can bomb as ferociously and discriminately as it wants and once what do you do to implement the resolution did you influence those who consider a moderate opposition did you persuade them to stop shelling and say can people hostage it was a heated meeting in the halls of the u.n. security council we heard from differ

reconciliation center. after safety corridors established by russia came into heavy shelling from militants preventing civilians from leaving the besieged district correspondent marty arabic is on the scene. now how much any economics the second day of the troops we haven't seen any civilians walking through the corridor it is known that there are many civilians who want to leave their own place to leave it for the one and only corner open for civilians from glitter however militants prevent civilian from exiting and don't allow them to leave due to an evacuation route to which the road to damascus the militant positions are just three or four hundred meters from the current or near the campus are offered in the syrian government has distributed leaflets amounts of aliens are not controlled and placed this detailed information and a map on how to get into the area under government control you can see that everything is ready here to receive civilians and to deal with any difficulty many tarion situation. the damascus suburb which is under the control of rubble and terrorist groups

rodchenkov is one of these brave people, the director of russia's anti-doping laboratory, grigory rodchenkov was the lead architect of the state run doping program. working with the fsb, the successor to the soviet kgb, to cheat the international checks put in place to prevent doping by olympic athletes. that all changed in 2016 when grigory rodchenkov blew the whistle on the program he had once helped facilitate resulting in suspension of russia from the 2018 winter olympics. his revelations also generated a revitalized debate on the need to combat corruption and international competition more generally. grigory rodchenkov lives a precarious life in the united states, relying on whistleblower protection and fearful that russian agents may one day coming knocking. he seldom gives interviews or makes statements due to this very real threat on his life but we are lucky enough today to have jim with us who will read an original statement from grigory rodchenkov as well as speak to the man app story, his hopes and fears and the centrality of whistleblowers in the fight against globalized corrupt

a very provocative and russia,ing paper on politically. with that, i will turn it over to -- >> i would like to extend my to -- whoatitude invited me and asked me to write the paper there -- who invited me -- who invited me and asked me to write the paper. the main topic of the paper i council the democratic and in this paper, i argued that we have been witnessing the transformation of the regime in russia. history in italy with mussolini. to be sure there is no conspiracy and the story i am outlining, i am just arguing has win vladimir putin president in 2000, and over the years, over eight all layers staffed of the russian government, the upper levels of the government and the presidential administration and as a result, almost 60% or 70% of all positions in the top layer of the russian government were kgb and somehe people from the military intelligence group. 2015, it became clear in the public sphere that the country is run by the people who grew up -- or by their sons and daughters. we have witnessed the formation of a clan of people who are united by the common background,

no sign that russia in defeat in the u.k. is present vote despite our new efforts to dig up proof. and south africa's parliament passes a measure that could see the entire white population stripped of their lungs without compensation. this is r.t. international coming to you live from moscow i'm kate partridge thank you for joining us. a humanitarian pause in the syrian enclave of eastern has apparently been broken by terrorists first second day safety corridors established by russia came under heavy shelling from militants preventing civilians from leaving the besieged district the situation was discussed at a u.n. security council meeting as artie's caleb maupin reports. the assad regime and their supporters have been pummeling eastern ghouta where four hundred thousand people live under siege and constant bombardment needs to be understood and still legitimate targets of military operations they are asking civilians to leave eastern good to on the false premise that they can then attack anyone left in the area as much as they would like to set up temporary settlements most civi

i. a cease fire in series these two going to ends in failure for a second day that is russia's reconciliation sends a terrorist says terrorists shelling is preventing hundreds of civilians from leaving the enclave. also come the sound see the russian olympic committee confirms the country has been reinstated as an i.o.c. member after remaining protests from the winter olympics proved negative on the belgium government faces a backlash over plans to make it easier for police to raid homes how using migrants you speak to one woman whose home was raided after she took in a sudanese teenager. and i saw seven and one woman coming in the door pushing me aside and calling her asking me are you along i really have to question her as a terrorist that something from a terrible happened. i welcome it seven pm here in moscow you're watching r.t. international now a humanitarian pause in syria needs to go to has been broken by terrorist for a second day according to the syrian reconciliation center that's after safety corridors established by russia came under heavy shelling from militants

president trying to distract from the special counsel's indictment of 13 russians? russia's spies. we'll take to you a troll farm where there is a disinformation campaign spread through social media. and troubling re lagss. as the florida high school shooter appears in court, we're getting new information about his extensive arsenal and his disturbing behavior while the couple who took him in speaks out. i'm wolf blitzer. you're in "the situation room." >>> the special counsel's investigation reaches president trump's family and their finances. sources say robert mueller is looking beyond son-in-law jared kushner's contacts looking the get foreign funding for his company during transition. the president is still fuming over the indictment of 13 russians accused of meddling in the election. a short while aeg tweeted asking why president obama didn't do something with the russian meddling. that follows a twitter tirade in which the president lashed out in all directions, sparking outrage when he steamed blame the russia probe for the school massacre in florida even as the funerals c

to describe three of those. the middle east, north korea, and russia. russia,d when i said people' perked up. starting with the middle east. compared to one year ago from where we are now, one year ago radical islamic terrorists were still on the march. isis controlled huge portions of syriac anorak. syria and iraq. al assad,ictator, using chemical weapons with impunity knowing the redline was not being enforced. one of the worst deals ever was never going to be challenged. one year ago the united states shamefully turned its back on israel and the united nations. what a difference a year makes. [applause] one year later isis has been demolished. we have more to do against them, but the progress has been incredible. they now control very little territory. their so-called caliphate has been destroyed. while they still pose a risk, they are a shell of what they were a year ago. missilesl, 59 tomahawk set the united states is serious about stopping him from using chemical weapons. [applause] that sent a very important message beyond syria to the rest of the region. i can tell you aft

the other way around. >>> happening now, breaking news, russia plea. a lawyer formally admits to lying to the special counsel's team as robert mueller turns up the heat on former trump campaign officials now under indictment. does mueller have a new cooperating witness to help him make his case? >>> distorting reality. the white house declaring again tonight that the russia probe is a hoax and claims mr. trump has been tougher on moscow than president obama. this hour, the false claims versus the facts. >>> downward spiral. after a stunning holiday weekend rant on twitter, the president is add it again, taking on the russia probe, his predecessor and a woman who accused him of sexual misconduct. what's driving his latest outbursts online? >>> and rallying cry, students who survived the florida school shooting are confronting lawmakers, demanding action to prevent another massacre. the president just signalled his support for one potential gun control measure, but will he follow through? >>> we want to welcome our viewers in united states and around the world. i'm wolf blitzer, yo