Turns out its this guy. This is steven broward, the top diplomat in belgium under the president bush administration. He did not speak flemish or french. He did not have any background in Government Service or diplomacy. But he did part own a baseball team. And he had raised more than 400,000 for president bushs first president ial campaign. A short while later, however unlikely it seems, he actually got the ambassadorship to belgium. Even though he, at least on paper, had absolutely no qualifications for that job. It is a dirty little totally open secret in american politics, that american president s give out ambassadorships basically as thank you notes to their biggest funders. Pretty much every president does it. When it happens, members of the opposing parties cry foul and say it is a terrible thing. It is one of our grosser bipartisan things. This is about one of george h. W. Bushs nominees, the most embarrassing nomination may be that of developer joseph sepapa who gave the gop more than 100,000 and found himself named to be the main man for the United States in spain. A Foreign Affairs neophyte, he knows little about spain. Mr. Zappala cannot even speak spanish. He calls the territory home called florida. Lest you think this is a bush thing, its really not. Its not even a republican thing. President obama has carried on this tradition with some gusto. This is what happened last year during one confirmation hearing for the president s nominee to be the ambassador to argentina. Have you been to argentina . Senator, i havent had the opportunity yet to be there. Ive traveled pretty extensively around the world, but i havent yet had a chance. No, i havent never occurred to me i should go there. Last year president obamas nomination to the ambassador to norway, who had been a major fundraiser for the president , he told senators that norway has a president. Norway does not have a president. The norway guy pulled himself out of contention for ambassador after that mistake. Sometimes theyre not qualified for their jobs. But thats not true of all of them. Sometimes they really, really are qualified. Sometimes youre glad they got picked. This is barbara leaf. She is our ambassador to the United Arab Emirates. She was confirmed by the senate last year. She was the Deputy Assistant secretary of state for the Arabian Peninsula in the bureau of middle eastern affairs. Before that assistant secretary for iraq, before that she worked for a year in basra in iraq. Most people dont choose iraq when theyre already in italy. She speaks arabic, she speaks french, she speaks italian, she also happens to speak croatian if thats necessary. Shes the ambassador to the United Arab Emirates, an experienced diplomat. She has not been in the job on the uae for very long. Its very clear that its good we have somebody highly qualified as a diplomat in that position right now. Ambassador leaf has had a difficult first month on the job. Ambassador leaf was confronted last week by the foreign minister of the United Arab Emirates, what they described as a blunt exchange. The reason for that blunt exchange, why the foreign minister from uae let our brandnew ambassador to his country have it, its the issue of search and rescue. Specifically, search and rescue of Coalition Military pilots who might fall into enemy hands, who might fall into isis hands if they crash while conducting air strikes over syria in the war against isis. That foreign minister told our ambassador last week that in his countrys view, u. S. Central command, the u. S. Military is not doing enough, putting enough assets in place in the region to allow for the capability we would need to go in and rescue a pilot who for whatever reason found himself in trouble during that air strike campaign. We got that story today for the first time. We learned that that meeting happened last week in abu dabi. We also learned that the United Arab Emirates suspended its participation in air strikes against isis. They suspended that key part of their involvement in the u. S. Led coalition in december. They havent been flying air strike machines since christmas day. The uae is part of the coalition that agreed to conduct strikes against isis alongside the United States. Theyve been dropping bombs on isis targets in syria, along with this crucial international coalition. But since christmas day, since the day after a jordanian pilot was downed and captured in syria, the United Arab Emirates has stopped conducting air strikes, apparently for fear of the safety of their pilots. Yesterday, of course, isis released a video purporting to show that jordanian pilot burned alive while trapped in a cage. Today the New York Times reports that the uae in december suspended its air strikes in support of the coalition. That raises a couple of really interesting points. One is about the integrity of this coalition in which we are engaged in our military campaign against isis. Its us and a handful of arab countries. Jordan, bahrain, saudi arabia and the uae. It was important to this administration when they undertook this air campaign in syria. They said not only do we not want to do it alone, we dont want to do it without sunni arab allies. This was not going to be the United States going it alone in the middle east again. This would be the United States engaging in air strikes against isis with syrias arab and muslim neighbors. Is that coalition now falling apart. Important point number one. Important point number two, is the United Arab Emirates right in being afraid for the safety of their pilots . Is there adequate search and rescue protection for pilots, for any of the coalition countries, flying these air strikes over isis targets . Is there adequate protection, are there adequate assets in place to rescue them if need be if they go down while dropping bombs on isis . Including our own pilots. An unnamed American Defense official gave a very unreassuring quote to the Washington Post today in response to this criticism from uae, that there wasnt enough preparation and planning on the ground, not enough assets in place to save that jordanian pilot. The defense official told the Washington Post today that the uae was quibbling over the speed with which the response happened. Quibbling. Yeah. The speed with which the response happened, that was kind of everything. The speed of it sort of turned out to be everything here. That timing made a lifeanddeath difference for that pilot of the they didnt get to him in time. And thats how isis got him. We know how it turned out. Maybe no searchandrescue effort would have been feasible in the case of this pilot. Maybe it was a terrible stroke of luck in terms of when he went down and where he went down. Maybe he was unrescuable. But this is a real question for all of the countries who agreed to participate in the air strikes against isis. What happens if a pilot goes down, another pilot goes down. A real question for all five countries engaged in the air strikes over syria. It is an especially important question for us. Given that american pilots are flying the lions share, really, the lions share of these sortess. The United States has conducted 943 of the 1,022 strikes against isis. We reached out to the Defense Department today for their response to this contention made by a coalition member, that our searchandrescue operations in our fight with isis are not reassuring enough. And the pentagon responded with this strongly worded statement. Quote, from the Defense Department official, quote, when american pilots fly over enemy territory, they know there are risks involved, but they also know theyre backed up by an unswerving commitment to recover them when they go down. The same resource is there to rescue the pilots. There is no risk, Coalition Airmen are taking, that american airmen dont share. So its a seemingly attempt from the pentagon in that statement to us tonight to reassure the world about the safety of the pilots who are involved in this military effort against isis. At least the commitment the United States has to every pilot involved in the effort regardless of nationality. At this particular time, this horrible case, the pilot happened to be a Jordanian Air force pilot. It was a reminder to everyone how dangerous this mission is. Its an air campaign, but thats not magic. Its still incredibly dangerous. If that poor guy had been an american pilot instead of a jordanian pilot, can you imagine how we would be reacting as a country right now . Not just the human reaction we would have for the family of a service member, but imagine what that would do to our country politically. You can see the change, both in our country and around the world, not just in jordan, in response to the jordanian pilot. Can you imagine if it had been an american . You can see how devastating to us as a country when american civilians are caught and killed by isis. New reporting on that front as well today. Its being reported that isis is now holding fewer than 20 foreign hostages from Different Countries around the world. That includes reportedly at least one american, a 26yearold american woman. According to reporting in Foreign Policy magazine today, u. S. Intelligence officials believe this Young American woman is still alive in part because they have some sort of proof of life they received, something specific as recently as a couple of weeks ago. Now, the United States policy doesnt pay for hostages, we dont pay ransom. The middle Eastern Countries do, we also do not trade for hostages. Jordan made that offer to trade prisoners with isis. That offer ultimately did not work. They didnt get their pilot back. As a rule, in general, we dont make those offers either. What we do as a matter of preference when we can is get hostages out. And there was new reporting on that front today as well. In general, the u. S. Does everything in our power to free hostages when we can. But according to the New York Times, after isis released that horrific video yesterday, president obama decided to instruct National Security officials and the Intelligence Community to devote resources to locate other hostages held by the islamic state. Not like we werent looking for them before. According to the times, the president has redoubled those instructions, find the hostages. We have a long history of swooping in and trying to get our people out when theyre being held in circumstances like this. Sometimes it works, sometimes it does not. There was a rescue mission mounted by special operations troops to try to save american journalist james foaley and steven sotloff. That failed and they were both ultimately killed by isis. Last month the United States launched a mission to try to save another american journalist who was being held by al qaeda in yemen, luke summers. That mission also failed. Luke summers was killed by his captors. A south African Citizen was apparently just hours away from being freed because of ransom negotiations. We sent in special operators, both of those hostages were killed. Sometimes those raids dont work. Sometimes it does work. When it does, its amazing. 2005, Army Delta Force operators rescued an american contractor. Who had been kidnapped and held for almost a year. He was rescued about 15 miles outside of baghdad. In 2009 there was the incredibly tense and dangerous and dramatic rescue of captain Richard Phillips held by somali pilots. U. S. Navy s. E. A. L. S were successful in saving captain phillips. Just a couple of years ago, navy s. E. A. L. S rescued two americans held in somalia. At the time the Obama Administration called that rescue, quote, a daring raid that will be the hallmark of future u. S. Military missions. When we are successful at going in, and saving american hostages, its an amazing success, and theyre stories that we tell forever. But sometimes that kind of rescue operation fails. One of the most harrowing new details that was just reported today in the wake of that isis propaganda video and the murder of that pilot that we all saw the film of yesterday, one of the most horrifying things reported today concerning isis and the remaining hostages that they hold was this detail. The Obama Administration apparently divided internally about whether to try to launch raids to free the remaining hostages if they can find them. Given that relevant history about our success, in terms of freeing american hostages, and what happens when we fail, there is reportedly a debate in this administration about whether specifically the families of the hostages, whether the families of the people being held, specifically presume blip the family of this Young American woman who is being held by isis, whether her family members basically get a say, whether they can veto a proposed military operation to go in and try to save her. Its impossible to think about having to make that decision, right . If you were that girls mom, right, and the administration came to you and said, do you want us to send delta force in to get her. Do you want us to try . Heres the track record. The decision now in part in the administration, at least purportedly today, is whether or not families of these hostages get to help make that decision. What would you do . Joining us now, nbc news correspondent, thank you for being here. Thank you, rachel. Do we know enough to know whether emirates has a valid point to make with regard to the searchandrescue missions, and whether or not the pilots who are doing these sortis are adequately protected in case they get shot down . I think theres two points to this. There are some ive been speaking to. Ive suggested the United Arab Emirates wants the United States to commit more resources to this fight. But as you mentioned, these resources apply to everybody equally. Theyre putting the american soldiers and Fighter Pilots just as much at risk as the emirates Fighter Pilots. That argument is being made very clearly, i believe, to the United Arab Emirates government. The United Arab Emirates government feel there is some criticism to be leveled not just against the United States, but these countries in the coalition who are not taking this fight seriously enough, who are not committing all of their resources to try to eradicate this problem with isis. They feel these Coalition Air strikes, which they were a part of for the first month or so, are not doing enough. So there has to be new tactics, new resources, things brought to the table. This, if you will, schism between the United Arab Emirates and the United States about this particular issue of searchandrescue resources, perhaps is just a cover, if you will, for a broader debate that the United Arab Emirates is trying to engage in. Its hard to say we need to be doing more, therefore, were going to do nothing. United arab emirates, they were the country that came out before the United States even asked and they volunteered to say, we will fight, we will go there. They were in on proportionately high number of the early strikes. They have a wellfunded air force. Theyve been seen as a country we didnt have to ask to come along. They made very clear early on, on our air, the ambassador in d. C. , saying this is our fight. Its not just americas fight, this was a fight for the uae. And without these countries, two things happen. And as you mentioned, again, tactically, its not going to change the coalition from a military Strategic Point of view. But the optics of it would be disastrous. If the coalition begins to fray and fall apart, it is going to be seen as a propaganda victory for isis. They will certainly jump on that. They play up to that. If you watch that 22minute video, it is targeting the coalition. They said that they are going to pay a price for participating in this u. S. Led operation. So the optics of it, i think, would be much more significant, and the symbolism of it would be much more significant than the military component that the countries are bringing to the table. Do we expect jordan is going to up the intensity of their involvement, or their type of involvement . We saw jordan yesterday retaliate against isis, at least indirectly, by killing two al Qaeda Associated prisoners. Do we expect that jordan is going to do something they havent otherwise done in terms of the military fight against isis . The bottom line is jordans technical capabilities, military capabilities are limited. Theres only so much they can do. The coalition without the United States cannot exist. Thats a fact everybody agrees with. None of these countries are going to be able to put their own Ground Troops on the ground. More importantly, all of these countries are now somewhat held hijacked by geopolitics of the region. None of them want to take on the isis forces along without addressing the assad regime in damascus. The United States does not want to address that right now. Its in a sensitive negotiation with iran that could tip the balance. All of these proxy issues have paralyzed the situation in trying to deal with it. To make it, a long answer short, theres only so much jordan can do. They can carry out a few executions in their country in retaliation, but at the end of the day it will be more of the same, not a paradigm shift in this operation. Thank you. Thank you. Lots more ahead. Including yet another thing that senator rand paul has to say about vaccines. Daughter do you and mom still have money with that broker . Dad yeah, 20 something years now. Thinking about what you want to do with your money . Daughter looking at options. What do you guys pay in fees . Dad i dont know exactly. Daughter if youre not happy do they have to pay you back . Dad it doesnt really work that way. Daughter you sure . Vo are you asking enough questions about the way your wealth is managed . Wealth management at Charles Schwab. kids laughing you know i tried one of those bargain paper towels but i had to use so many sheets per spill the roll just disappeared. I knew i shouldve bought bounty bounty is 2x more absorbent and strong when wet. Just look how much longer bounty lasts versus one of those bargain brand towels. And thats a good deal. Bounty. The long lasting picker upper and now try new bounty nfl prints. Available at walmart. The front page of the lexington Herald Leader newspaper today. Biggest newspapers in kentucky. Look, right on the front page, above the fold, on the right side there, rand paul plagues himself over vaccines. In damage control. Another day, another day of horrifically bad press for senator and would be president ial candidate rand paul. He gave an interview to cnbc when he suggested parents should maybe not vaccinate their children because, quote, ive heard of many tragic cases of walking, talking normal children who wound up with profound mental disorders after vaccines. He said that monday. Yesterday, tuesday, rand paul was forced to walk back those comments saying he never suggested vaccines cause mental disorders. Even though he very obviously and directly did. But he went on to say, in fact, if you really want to know what he thinks about vaccines, he loves them. He gets vaccines all the time. Look. So monday it was vaccines are terrible. Tuesday it was vaccines are great. What would today bring for rand paul . Happy wednesday. This is rand paul before he was a senator. Rand paul speaking to info wars, which is the Online Outlet of noted conspiracy theorist alex jones, the 9 11 was perpetrated with by our own government guy, the Boston Marathon bombing was a false flag operation launched by the u. S. Government. Alex jones said the newtown massacre was faked. All a conspiracy. Rabd paul is an alex jones guy from way back. And back in 2009, senator paul spoke to the alex jones outlet info wars, and he said that he, rand paul, was worried that the flu vaccine would lead to martial law in america. Yes. The first sort of thing you see with martial law is mandates, and theyre talking about making it mandatory. I worry because the last flu vaccine we had in the 1970s, more people died from the vaccine than died from the swine flu. I think you have to use your brain. But i think every individual should be allowed to make that choice. First comes mandatory flu vaccines, then comes martial law. Very slippery. Make your own call on vaccines, alex jones listeners. Dont believe the man. Rand paul is now trying to act like the media spun his words this week, and tried to make him seem antivaccine, when really actually he loves vaccines. Just watch this clip from the alex jones people back in 2009, talking how dangerous vaccines are. You have to be careful. You have to weigh the risks of the disease versus the risks of the vaccine. But im not going to tell penal they have to take it, because everybody should be able to make their own health care decisions. Rand paul goes on at length in this interview about how risky vaccines are and how people have to make their own choices whether or not they want to risk getting vaccinated. This wasnt like back in the 1970s. This wasnt an aqua buddah version for him. This was 2009. The Silver Lining in all of this, if there is one, may be the widespread backlash, even on the right, that rand paul and new Jersey Governor Chris Christie have been getting this week on their whack vaccine advice. Its coming from all quarters. Washington post yesterday published a blistering editorial saying that the remarks from both Chris Christie and rand paul, quote, call into question their judgment, and their fitness for higher office. Its not just the Washington Post. Its also conservative media outlets. The alex jones video was flagged at the website red states, which called rand pauls comments on vaccines, quote, facially insane, and beyond the pale of reasonable debate. This is the reaction today from the conservative wall street journal. They slammed rand paul for indulging in bad science and engaging in, quote, libertarian dormitory passions. One thing if youre running for president to get knocked by the Washington Post. It is quite another to get knocked by the wall street journal, and conservative base public indications like red state. Especially if youre a republican trying to win your partys nomination for president. That is the week rand paul has had so far. It is really only wednesday so far. And i have cable. lowe directv is wireless, so you can put your tvs anywhere without having to look at those ugly wires and boxes in every room. hs lowe cable isnt wireless but you just gotta put something in front of them. lowe im still in awe of how great my tvs look. hs lowe and im still captain of the team. lowe dont be like this me. Get rid of cable and upgrade to directv. Call 1800directv. Parents help their children discover the world animals, seen those before but sometimes they do it on their own mmm foot wow food for giants oooo no wonder no one has eaten this sandwich kids discover the world with their mouths keep laundry pacs out of reach and away from children brought to you by tide the world is filled with air. But for people with copd sometimes breathing air can be difficult. If you have copd, ask your doctor about oncedaily anoro ellipta. It helps people with copd breathe better for a full 24hours. 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With xlte, our 4g lte bandwidth has doubled in over 400 cities. And now, save without settling. Get 2 lines with 10gb of data for just 110. Or four lines for just 140. And get a 150 bill credit for each smartphone you switch. Hurry offers end february 4th. Only on verizon. Theyre coming. What do i do . You need to catch the 4 10 huh . The Equipment Tracking system will get you to the loading dock. There should be a truck leaving now. I got it. Now jump off the bridge. What . In 3. 2. 1. Are you kidding me . Go. Right on time. Right now, over 20,000 trains are running reliably. We call that predictable. Thrillingly predictable. It has been a terrible year for plane crashes, and even for lost planes. From the malaysian flight that went missing last march and still never been located to the airasia crash that went missing for days over the java sea before its wreckage was finally found, to this astonishing, and terrible crash yesterday in taiwan, as the transasia flight lost altitude and clipped a cab on the highway. The footage impossible to believe it was captured on dashboard cameras from cars on the highway, when the highway got hit by the plane. 31 people, including the pilots, are confirmed in that crash. At least 15 people survived that crash. Its been a terrible year for air crashes. This past july, though, there was a different type of terrible air crash. When a Malaysia Airlines plane did not just crash, it was shot out of the sky near the ukrainerussia border. 298 people killed. That passenger jet was shot out of the sky by prorussian separatists who thought it was a Ukrainian Military plane that they were shooting at. The separatists supported by russia had been fighting in Eastern Ukraine for months already at that point. Vladimir putin had annexed crimea, tried to make it part of russia. And the Obama Administration and European Countries had denounced russia. They imposed what turned out to be fairly crippling economic sanctions on russia. They told russia to get out of ukraine and stop interfering with that country. But the downing of the plane on the russian border, everybody all at the same time, left, right and center started asking the same scary question, new cold war . Is this a new cold war . Are we, the United States, going to fight some sort of new war with russia . Set off by Vladimir Putins aggression toward ukraine . President obama seemed unclear on his answer after that. Is this a new cold war, sir . No. Its not a new cold war. Are you going to impose sanctions . Are sanctions going to be enough . Are you considering lethal aid for ukraine . The issue at this point is not the ukrainian capacity to outfight separatists. They are better armed than the separatists. The issue is, how do we prevent bloodshed in Eastern Ukraine. Were trying to avoid that. This is not a new cold war, were not going to send weapons into this fight because thats not what ukraine needs. It could cause more bloodshed. That was president obama speaking in july. Fast forward to now, and it seems like this whole question, which sort of feels old, right, it feels like last years news, it feels like maybe this is on again. Security issues, the reason it feels like last years news, right now, our National Attention is focused on isis. And the confirmation hearing for the new defense secretary. And the other stuff thats going on in National Security. Hasnt really been focused on ukraine in terms of the National Discussion. At the confirmation hearing for ash carter today, 10,000 u. S. Troops are still in afghanistan, and a gag rule means we cant talk about that fact. Were willing to talk about isis, even a little bit about afghanistan. But this ukraine thing . Are we having a war with russia . It has fallen out of the National Discussion over the last few months. But one level below those surface discussions, it really seems right now that this thing is back on. And you should know about it. In ukraine, a ceasefire was agreed to in september. That ceasefire has been blown through. The russianbacked forces in ukraine have taken a couple hundred square miles of territory away from the Ukrainian Government, including a major airport, shown here in ruins after the fighting was done. Theyve taken the couple hundred miles and the airport just since new years this year. The shipment to the forces in ukraine have been way up, including heavy weapons. So that thing that president obama said last summer about the Ukrainian Government actually being better armed than the separatists and insurgency . Our government apparently no longer believes that is the case. Given the kind of russian weaponry that putin seems to be shipping into the ukrainian separatists. So the ground game seems to have changed. And now, the Obama Administration, this week, granted, with everybody talking about isis and vaccines and rand paul and paris hiltons brother and all the rest of it, thats the major National Discussion. But this week alongside that, below the surface, the Obama Administration seems to be making a concerted effort to get the idea out there that we might be about to start fighting Vladimir Putin and russia with more than economic sanctions. This report from a bunch of big named military officials, saying send 1 billion worth of weapons to ukraine right now. The New York Times this week reported secretary kerri is open to the idea. The report of National Security adviser susan rice used to be against the idea, but is prepared to reconsider. The outgoing defense secretary chuck hagel wants to get weapons into ukraine now. Now at this confirmation hearing, the man who would replace chuck hagel, ash carter, said he is, quote, very much inclined to send american weapons into ukraine. Secretary of state john kerry is on his way to ukraine right now. Vice President Joe Biden is going to be meeting with the president of ukraine this weekend. The president of ukraine is also publicly saying, yeah, america is about to start arming us, shipping us weapons to fight against russia. Hes already saying that publicly. Are we . It is barely started to penetrate the headlines here at all. But after last summers freakout about whether we were about to restart the cold war with russia right now, just barely under the surface in our politics right now, our whole military and diplomatic apparatus, you can feel it shifting into gear. Start talking about a new war. At least putting us into a situation that feels an awful lot like a proxy war with russia. And proxy war with russia isnt a phrase weve really heard since nicaragua, or afghanistan in the 1980s. Are we going to do that again . Are we about to start arming ukraine as a way of fighting russia . Would it change the situation on the ground there materially . Would it make it better . Would it risk making the war bigger and worse . Are we about to do this . The commanding general of the u. S. Army in europe is our guest next on the interview. Stay with us. Do you have something for pain . I have bayer aspirin. Im not having a heart attack, its my back. I mean bayer back body. It works great for pain. Bayer back body provides effective relief for your tough pain. Better . Yeah. Thanks for the tip parents help their children discover the world animals, seen those before but sometimes they do it on their own mmm foot wow food for giants oooo no wonder no one has eaten this sandwich kids discover the world with their mouths keep laundry pacs out of reach and away from children brought to you by tide good job still running in the morning . Yeah. Getting your vegetables every day . When i can. [ bop ] [ male announcer ] couldve had a v8. Two full servings of vegetables for only 50 delicious calories. Ive been called a control freak. I like to think of myself as more of a control. Enthusiast. Mmm, a perfect 177degrees. And thats why this road warrior rents from national. I can bypass the counter and go straight to my car. And i dont have to talk to any humans, unless i want to. And i dont. And national lets me choose any car in the aisle. Control. Its so, whats the word . Sexy. Go national. Go like a pro. The regional command. Official afghan product. Its like pizza dough. That was from my 2010 trip to afghanistan. Inside an mwrap. Then Brigadier General ben hodges. Well, tonight ben hodges joins us for the interview as Lieutenant General ben hodges. General hodges has just returned from ukraine to germany where hes now based. General, nice to see you again. Thanks very much for being here. Thank you, rachel. So i know you recently returned from ukraine. Weve been talking a little bit about a lot of political noise, and media noise in this country right now that the u. S. Might be seriously looking at sending lethal aid into ukraine. When you were there, what was your assessment of how things are on the ground this now . Rachel, i was very impressed with a couple of things when i was in kiev three weeks ago. First, our ambassador, and the u. S. Country team there, theyre effective and committed. They have a good feel for whats actually going on there. I was also impressed with civilian and military Security Force leadership, their earnestness and their commitment to get their institutions ready for sustained effort to improve training, leader development, this sort of thing. I was very impressed with that. And i did visit a Military Hospital in kiev. Frankly, the quality of care was quite good. The capacity is what they lack. In terms of the prospect of u. S. Arms, and again, theres been no decision made, but if our government is considering sending a lot more weapons into the ukrainian side, do we know whether the Ukrainian Forces are well trained enough, that they can actually make good use of advanced american weaponry, sort of antithe kind of weapons that you would use against these armored personnel carriers, for example, that russia that is sent in in such large numbers . Well, you make a couple of great points, rachel. First of all, providing weapons is not a strategy. The military support for whats going on would be a part of the strategy. And i think identifying what is the desired end stake that the west has with respect to russia, and to ukraine, which is a manifestation of that, is whats really important. And also, just providing weapons by themselves is not necessarily going to help. The equipment thats being provided requires training, its typically part of the system, and thats why what russia has provided, you know, not only is it sophisticated equipment, but you have to have the experts to come with it. Thats why its laughable that people would think this is militia thats using this. The reason that you can point that out is because russia has sort of been saying, oh, its not us, its just the separatists, we support what theyre doing, but dont think this is Russian Troops and theres a lot of reason to be skeptical about that. But i think given that, if the u. S. Military did decide overtly, all right, were going to get involved, and really arm the ukrainian side, i just imagine if i were Vladimir Putin, i would see that as a great opportunity to triple down on the fighting and what i was going to put my name on, what i was willing to admit to, and how much military commitment i was willing to make to ukraine, if only because his warmaking is the only thing working for him with his own domestic audience. His economy has totally cratered, and appears to be weaker with the russian people than many other issues. They like him in terms of the war. If i were him, i would scale up. Well, certainly president putin has two objectives, think i. Number one is to continue to destabilize those countries so they cannot be in the eu, that they would not be could not join nato. So to create the instability around his periphery. And certainly, ukraine is the most important country on the periphery of russia, in terms of nonnato countries. His second objective is, im sure, to splinter our great alliance, nato, the north atlantic treaty organization, to put a wedge between north america and europe, to create doubt in the minds of the young nato countries. Those are the two objectives. So thats why i think youre right, hes emphasizing the use of military force, and it seems to me that hes shown no indication to back off despite the very strong sanctions that are in place. Lieutenant general ben hodges, commander of u. S. Army forces in europe. When we met in 2010, i was doing this job, im still doing this job. You, meanwhile, are now the commander of u. S. Army forces in europe. Congratulations on your success thus far. And thank you for taking the time to talk with us tonight. Rachel, thank you. And thanks for helping to educate your viewers. I appreciate it, sir. Thank you. Well be right back. Now with the xfinity tv go app, you can watch live tv anytime. Its never been easier with so Many Networks all in one place. Get live tv whenever you want. The xfinity tv go app. Now with live tv on the go. Enjoy over wifi or on Verizon Wireless 4g lte. Plus enjoy special savings when you purchase any new Verizon Wireless smartphone or tablet from comcast. Visit comcast. Com wireless to learn more. We got word tonight from the white house that president obamas longest serving staffer at this point, dan pfeiffer, the Communications Department there, is going to be leaving the white house. Hes been with president obama from the beginning. So his decision as an obama original to not stay on for the last couple of years, thats interesting. Although we dont know what Senior Adviser dan pfeiffer will be doing next. Then the second announcement, the Communications Director is also leaving. Again, i dont know what dan pfeiffer is leaving to do, but jen is leaving to go work on the Hillary Clinton for president campaign, which doesnt officially exist yet. You always wonder when you get these announcements in bursts. 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For a cleaner, fresher brighter denture everyday. I want my yoga pants to smell like i sweat money. I want to smell the way champagne tastes. I love champagne. Infuse your laundry with. Up to 12 weeks of luxurious longlasting scents. Unstopables in wash scent booster. I want my foyer to smell more like a foyer. I want his bedroom to smell like hes away at boarding school. Surround yourself with up to 6 hours of luxurious, longlasting scents. Introducing new unstopables air refresher. We found him, weve been looking for him for days. Here is Reince Priebus, chairman of the Republican National convention. He attended the Senate Republican lunch yesterday. It is unexpected that he was in d. C. At all. Its been reported that Reince Priebus was going to israel, paid for by the American Family association, led by this guy. So here we are, killing 60 million babies, red ink as far as the eye can see. Homosexuals praying at the inauguration. I think the process of mercy looks like car bombs in los angeles, washington, d. C. , and des moines, iowa. I think we get mercy, the process is going to be a very painful process. Thats david lane, he works for the American Family association. In december, Reince Priebus invited the 168 members of the rnc to go on a nineday trip to israel, paid for by the American Family association. Theres no reason rnc members cant pay themselves to go to israel, but this trip was free to them, all expenses paid. Basically it amounts to a donation of several hundred thousand dollars to the Republican National convention from the American Family association. That set off alarm bells. Hitler discovered that he could not get straight soldiers to be savage and brutal and vicious enough to carry out his orders, but that homosexual soldiers basically had no limits on the savagery and brutality they were willing to inflict on whoever hitler sent them after. So he surrounded himself, all of the storm troopers, brown shirts were male homosexuals. Thats the American Family association, who Reince Priebus invited to go to israel. Groups have cataloged who this work is. Theyre notorious, even within republican politics. After they and david lane specifically joined other far right activists in 2012 saying mitt romney shouldnt be the republican nominee for president because he worships a false god. These guys are notorious, even inside republican politics. But Reince Priebus took hundreds of thousands from them, made this arrangement and would be hosting this big trip for the National Republican party. Time magazine and israel reported that a third of the members of the rnc said yes to go on the trip and Reince Priebus would be going, with the American Family association and david lane. After that, they distanced themselves from their spokesman, brian fisher. They finally demoted him within the organization before this trip with the rnc. The story started getting more and more press. And now the rnc is getting weird. First, we asked if they had anything to do with brian fisher getting fire before the rnc took its trip. No answer from them on that. We asked the rnc if Reince Priebus was still going. No answer to that. That seemed weird. Then we called back the American Family association to tell us if the trip was still on. Their lawyer told us monday, i dont know that. That was literally three days into the trip theyre paying for and leading and they had no idea if it was happening. To find out if Reince Priebus went on this trip, led by the guy who says america was founded to advance the Christian Faith and he couldnt vote for a mormon like mitt romney, after dodging those questions and refusing to say anything about it, there was Reince Priebus yesterday, not in israel but washington, d. C. Apparently the rnc caved. Reince priebus bailed and they couldnt take the heat and theyre hoping they refuse all comment about it, no one will notice. Mr. Chairman, we noticed. That does it for us tonight. Now its time for the last word with lawrence odonnell. Notice. Mr. Chairman, we noticed. That does it for us tonight. Now its time for the last word with lawrence odonnell. Rachel, no one would have noticed without you. Great job. Thank you. Today, King Abdullah of jordan called for a relentless war against the islamic state. Last night, the king ordered the executions of two terrorist prisoners in response to a 22minute video showing a jordanian combat pilot being burned to death. Now the white house is considering its next move. President obama said today that the u. S. Was going to double down on the efforts to
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