Putin Askle News Today

Next thing thats going to happen is theres going to be nato troops on the board of western ukraine and putins troops will flood into eastern ukraine, then all bets are off. >> go ahead. >> obviously putin has hiss mission and he clearly does see himself in the way that professor cohen just outlined. obviously theres been a major sort of argument over ukraine, but putin and the russians have by treaty their big black sea fleet in sevastopol in the crimea. theres no indication that the new ukraini...

A divide developing between president obama and chancellor merkel. >> thats the big problem. theres a meeting of the eu on thursday, a nato meeting and thus far no appetite by the german chancellor even though she despises putin and is making strong statements about the violation of ukrainian sovereignty, theyre not about to go along with sanctions with real teeth. 40% of their natural gas in germany and half of their energy is from natural gas comes through the pipeline from russia. it is a ter...

Russia. whether its libya or syria or iran or ukraine, he sees western actions as uniquely attempting to undermine russian power. >> reporter: but putin could also be feeling emboldened in ukraine. >> mr. putin basically thinks that president obama and the americans and the europeans are kind of wimps. and that he can roll them when he sees fit. >> reporter: between that bravado and the alleged fear how far vladimir putin will take all of this. will he be the ruthless commander who pushes this f...

I want you to read the lead story in "the new york times" today. chancellor angela merkel told mr. obama by telephone on sunday that after speaking with mr. putin she was not sure he was in touch with reality. people briefed on the call said in another world, she said. is she right? >> i dont know if its an accurate report. but remember she said that about president george bush in 2010 when bush tried to fasttrack ukraine into nato and she stopped it. what i do know is this -- putin doesnt trust...

He could be. >> reporter: others believe putin is very much in touch with the reality he sees, the upheaval in ukraine. >> putin wants to restore the russian empire, which ukraine is the crowned jewel. >> reporter: and crimea is the shining core of that crowned jewel, a region crucial, analysts say, for two reasons. to putins goal of uniting the people once under soviets control and for access to the black sea. what also drives the former kgb colonel is an open resentment of the way the cold war...

American news media. the coverage of russia and ukraine including putin. hes joining me along with christi christiane amanpour and newt gingrich. lets talk about your powerful article. whats wrong with the way that mainstream american media has covered putin? >> well, lets put it like this. what people are witnessing right now, were watching the descent of a new cold war divide in europe. this time, not in berlin but right on russias borders in ukraine. thats going to affect adverse ree our kids...

It took two to tango and thats absolutely true. im pushing back against the american narrative. the long story is -- and ill give it to you short -- in the 1990s, president clinton decided to expand nato towards russia. russia is now on natos borders. thats a military alliance. to make the short story in the foreground, in november, when this current crisis in ukraine began, putin said to washington and to brussels, to the european union, why are you forcing ukraine to choose between russia and ...

Russian forces conduct war games with president putin looking on in the midst of the most dire crisis in europe since the end of the cold war. were following the breaking news in ukraine. russias ambassador to the u.n. says ukraines ousted president has sent a letter to putin askle him to use military force to restore law and order in his country. russian forces are strengthening their grip in the crimea region where ukrainian officials say theyve declared war. up to 12 trucks of russian troops ...

Russian and they talk in german, putin was the head of the kgb in dresden under the old soviet union. he has done things to angela merkel in terms of their dialogue that she just hates. and she feels taken advantage of, her country, by this action, but she doesnt know what to do. >> jim sciutto, you know, this one argument thats being made, especially the russians are making it, is that yanukovych, the ousted president, if you will, of ukraine, he was democratically elected by the people of ukra...

Unpredictable. what makes vladimir putin tick? our own brian todd has been taking a closer look. brian? >> wolf, that is such a crucial question right now because were all trying to figure out what vladimir putin is going to do next. at the moment, putin is setting the pace. the rest of the world is reacting and that seems to be just the way he likes it. hes on the scene as his army rehearses for war. the world is hanging on to scenes like this, wondering what could be next. whats inside vladimi...