Page 975 - Commitments News Today

Conduct joint military exercises with our nato friends close to the russian border. offer up equipment and training to the ukrainian military. take steps that will guarantee and convey the notion especially to our friends in europe that we keep our commitments. so far thats a doubt. >> for the record, those ideas make as much sense as you would expect from the architect of the iraq war and torture regime. now from the same department, the junior senator from kentucky rand paul gave his suggestio...

People, im still in touch with a lot of the governments that i dealt with over the years. and i know for a fact they dont believe he will keep his commitments or back up his rhetoric. syria was a classic example that turned a lot of people off. >> all right, mr. vice president, thank you for joining us. we appreciate it. well have more on the malaysian air disaster coming up in the show. but first, he won the straw poll this weekend. ill talk to senator rand paul about that this weekend. and als...

Those nuclear weapons up for exchange for a protection of their borders and to blow past that, its devastating and we cant do it. have to on remain intact for the entire international system. >> its not just the system of international law, its nuclear peace on the planet. so the stakes here are extraordinarily high and in this memorandum that was signed by the three powers in 1994, it says ukraine, the russian federation, the united kingdom and the united states will consult in the event of a s...

Im skeptical of the missile defense issue. that has been really studied to death, and im not sure that crimea really changes the calculation of whether we really want that system. very expensive system, by the way, in poland. >> right. >> but certainly the idea of thickening up our nato commitments and nato relations in poland, i think, are important. id be a little skeptical of this idea that we should be rushing in with an equip-and-train program in ukraine. i dont think that will have any det...

Second to support that government financially as it gets through the elections and beyond and the united states and europeans are doing that. third, to continue the efforts of john kerry and chancellor merkel have tried to deescalate and try to reach some sort of solution. president obama and merkel have provided putin with an offer if he wants to take it. fourth, i think its critical we continue to reinforce our nato commitments and reassure our nato partners, and fifth, to show increased cost ...

I mean, the other thing i think thats important here is that we talk about competitive schools. talking about harvard, right? the vast majority of americans going to colleges are going to two-year schools or four-year schools that accept more than they reject. right? i mean, there is a very elite conversation about people stressing about the s.a.t. and stressing to get into harvard, but thats a tiny sliver. >> it is, although its increasing. the flagship universities in every state, university o...

Are proposing, as you all know, the osce has also proposed an economic package working with the imf for the ukraine, is a particularly important part of this. well continue to work those channels as well as the diplomatic channels. mr. chairman, i think it is clear as you have noted, ranking member, imhauf, in your opening statements that the events of the past week underscore the need for americas continued global engagement in leadership. the presidents defense budget reflects that reality. it...

As always, i left there inspired. they remain fully engaged on the mission set before them. they continue to build the institution of the afghan national security forces, which given the right political structure around them, has the ability to sustain the fight. well be prepared to support a variety of options over the next several months as our relationship with afghanistan moves forward. this includes the option to draw down by the end of the year, if thats the decision made by our elected le...

Our side of the atlantic allies, nato, partners in particular on the issue. i was at nato last week where i attended the regularly scheduled n nato ministerial. we took a few hours to meet with the nato ukraine commission. we had then the deputy minister of defense with us of ukraine. we spent some time with him. across the administration, our efforts, as you know, mr. chairman, have been focused on deescalating the crisis, supporting the new ukrainian government with economic assistance and rea...

Today at an air base where russian troops threatened they would shoot if the ukrainians continued to march toward them. it was defused after the russians fired some warning shots into the air. back in washington, the political tension heated up. >> i listened to some of my good friends on the republican side try to score political points in connection with the russian move on crimea. trying to paint this somehow as obamas fault. this is a ridiculous contention. >> yet, republican s jumped on dic...