From our studios in new york city, this is charlie rose. We begin tonight with news from the ukraine, a military Helicopter Shot down near the russian border on tuesday killing nine people. They came to an agreement and a ceasefire between the Ukrainian Government and separatists. They accuse rebels of breaking the agreement several times. United states is hoping to increase pressure on the russian government by escalating existing sanctions. Joining me from washington, a distinguished scholar at the Wilson Center and the german ambassador to the United States. It is great to be back. Tell me what is happening as far as you know at this moment on the ground in the ukraine. Obviously, the ceasefire is a challenging proposition in a situation where you had the Ukrainian Military on one side and a number of different groups. The coordination of which is unclear. To put it diplomatically. This is not an easy situation for the implementation of the ceasefire. That is the one problem. The other side of this coin is the European Union later this week, diplomatic efforts, of course, are continuing. President putin was in austria yesterday. Chancellor merkel and others have been phoning president putin. The German Foreign minister was in the ukraine yesterday so a lot of diplomatic activity is continuing and i think we have at least a glimmer of hope that a diplomatic track can be established and that some traction can then be created. What would a diplomatic solution look like . I believe the ukraine needs help. The border between ukraine and russia is an open border. And as we all know, from the media, for weeks if not months, men and ammunition and supplies have somehow come across this particular border. I believe it is a relatively clear point to make that if russia intends to respect the integrity and sovereignty of its neighbor ukraine, russia should do the necessary minimum to control its own border and make sure nothing leaves russia that is not supposed to leave russia. And armed men or ammunition should not cross the border without the permission of the authorities. I think we need to continue to put pressure on the russian government to implement their own promises. They may that they would respect the integrity of the ukraine and so far, they are not doing that. What pressure can we apply our can the world apply or the west apply . Charlie, i think our behavior has not been all that bad. When i left kiev a couple weeks ago, i asked the Prime Minister who is a highly efficient and technocratic who acts under very difficult circumstances. I asked him what is the one thing you will need to carry with me as i go back to berlin and talk to people in brussels and in washington. A clear answer, he said dont fall apart. Stay together. So far, i think weve managed to do that and we need to stay together. We cannot allow this russian behavior to split the North Atlantic Alliance or split the west in terms of continuing the sanctions together. Not the United States. It seems to me that is what is happening. Youre hearing people like the United States chamber of commerce questioning the sanctions. I think that is normal. I could sing a long song about the complaints of our own Business Community which, of course, has a much bigger stake in the russian trade than the u. S. Business community. Our Business Community doesnt like this a bit because it affects their business in a major way. But they have been smart enough. I draw my hat. They are smart enough and politically astute enough to understand that this is a political priority, and therefore, we are not going to fight this decision. If it has to happen, it has to happen. I think that is what we need to expect. Where is the chancellor on this . The chancellor, in my view, i am no longer a german ambassador, i am not officially in the Diplomatic Mission here. So i am free to express my own view. I believe she has carried out the kind of leadership function that everybody is expecting of germany in these types of situations. She has helped to unite the European Union and that is not easy. She is one of the few leaders that has been able to continuously, over many weeks now, speak with president putin sometimes several times a week. We must not give up the communications link. This is the most serious challenge to European Security in many years. Do you believe sanctions will work and will act as leverage against russia . It is clear to me the leadership in moscow does not appreciate a reduction or elimination. It seems to me that it is still the kind of oldstyle cold war thinking that they need something against the west to protect themselves because the west as some sort of hostile intention. Whyich is, of course, not true. But perceptions are perceptions and we need to live with the fact that this is a strongly held view in moscow. And we have to live with the unfortunate fact that over the last several months, nationalistic sentiments have tended to have a renaissance in russia. As i put myself in the shoes of an advisor to president putin, he is not an easy situation. If he now were to give up and say ok, i accept this, i accept that ukraine is moving in the direction of that you. And i will let that happen. I believe you will be seriously attacked by this new nationalistic rightwing conservative element in russian politics. In a way, he has created a problem for himself. Henry kissinger suggested finland as a model and wrote about it in his column. Is that the model to what ukraine should become . It depends on how you interpret this. I agree that if we are very clear what the finland model means. It must not mean and should not mean that ukraine is not free to choose which club it wants to belong to. That is a principle we established many years ago in the context of European Security. Each country should be free to choose. But in principle, they were free to choose and they chose out of their own will not to become members of nato, you know, many years ago. They decided to pursue a special finish way. There is nothing written in the bible or in the finnish constitution or anywhere else that would, in principle, prevent finland from becoming a member of nato. It is, of course, a member of the European Union. In that sense, that is what we mean when we speak about the finnish solution. That is ok. Some people believe it means the ukraine must not and will not and shall not ever become a member of this or that. I would say that is not something we should ever say. If the ukrainians want to make that decision, that is their decision to make. It is their country and their future. We should allow them to have the free choice. I think the new president has a great opportunity. My own job before the president ial elections were complete was to help on behalf of the osce to create National Dialogue roundtables. This is not a country with a homogenous society. There are russian speaking people in the east that disagree violently with what people in the west believe. This president must be a president that brings his country together in a way i am not a historian and i hesitate to make this comparison because Many Americans will say this is not correct. I think of Abraham Lincoln as a figure that in a war situation, finally brought the country together again. It is a huge task and i think he can do it. He enjoys the trust of many leaders in the west. I believe theyre willing to talk to him in moscow. How large are the separatists . I made an effort during my few weeks there to talk to everybody i was able to meet with. I went to various other places. I did not meet any significant number of people who were really separatists, carving up ukraine. Which is what the selfappointed separatists proclaim is their objective. I believe this is an artificial kind of separatism which is being imported and is not something which the population really wants. I think what the population wants in Eastern Ukraine is a different government in kiev. They want less corruption and more representation of their own issues and problems. They want more decentralization. They want Something Like the kind of federalism you have in the United States and we have in germany. Selfgovernment. But that is something very different from the idea that, lets take a portion of the ukraine and lets proclaim a separate republic. My impression is that not even those that are responsible in moscow believe that that would be a good and a longterm and permanent solution. Separatism, i think, is an artificial idea which is being tried. I dont think it has a future. What is the risk to ukraine if they dont get the necessary money they need . This is a country that needs almost everything. They need money. They need oil and gas. We need to help them settle the gas issue with russia. They need technical help. This is a country that has a military that is so poorly trained and equipped because they were not well enough funded in the past. This is a country that has a huge corruption problem. Across the board, from the military to the social sector, they will need a lot of help. What is the risk reward . The risk of miscalculation on both sides is significant. This is something that must worry all of us that know a little bit about strategy and about Crisis Management and crisis prevention. It takes only a little miscalculation for something to flare up. There is lots of military around in this region. Russian soldiers on the other side. It doesnt take much for a little conflict in a border town to erupt into something larger. We thought that we could trust each other and we thought there was now a degree predictability in European Security architecture and that believe has been shattered. That needs to be rebuilt and that will take a long time. Will history suggest the west missed an early opportunity to formerly should ship with the ukraine . Looking back, of course one can argue that maybe what we did or what we did not do, we the europeans, we the west, we also made mistakes. I am sure there were mistakes made. Some people believe, and i dont necessarily share this view, but it is being kicked around in these debates that the eu presented the future relationship between the ukraine and the European Union as a choice that ukraine had to make between either a relationship with the west, the eu, or with russia. Today, we are all agreed that that is not a choice through which we should put the ukraine. We should allow the ukraine to continue to have its traditional longterm ties, historic ties, political ties, ethnic ties with russia. While developing the economic and political relationship with the west. That has got to be possible. Maybe there were mistakes made, and maybe we did not pay enough attention to this huge country, one of the biggest countries if not the Biggest Country on the european continent. 50 Million People and a huge part of land. Maybe we neglected the domestic problems of the ukraine for too long. But dont forget, charlie. Since 2008, we in the eu you had some other kinds of worries also. We were fighting the specter of a breakup of the eurozone. As you know, that problem is not yet fully resolved. You know, this was not a great time of outreach for the European Union since 2008. Take me inside putins brain and tell me what his calculations are. I wish i knew. I think that is the really big challenge. The trouble we all have. I have been talking to many here in washington at the state department. My own colleagues in berlin and brussels and elsewhere. I think the main majority view that president putin is not a gambler. He carefully weighed the risks when he seized crimea. And he believed that the western reaction would be one with which he could live. I think he is a smart strategist. He will not step over the red line. I dont think that he is one to really challenge nato. But we also need to be sure that we send the right signals which is why i am a strong believer in the sanctions that we have already adopted and i believe that if president putin does not followup with recognizable actions, we should notch up our sanctions policy in order to make sure he understands that we will not allow the european peace and stability to be threatened by him. He wishes and he has said publicly since 2007 that he wishes to create, in his way, to recreate a greater russia. And the vision of the union which he has pursued for quite some time now is a vision that will remain desperately incomplete if it does not include the ukraine which is why i think people are so unhappy in moscow that ukraine is now definitely, most definitely on an eu course and drifting away from the influence of russia and from the option of becoming a future member of this union which president putin pursues. I want to make sure that we talk again between the west and the russian president about the situation that is a very unhappy situation for all of us can be changed and transformed into a situation where we can speak hopefully in a few years of a kind of a future winwin situation. The one thing i believe is important for me as a european to never forget is that we will have russia as a big neighbor whether we like it or not. We cant wish them away and they will also be the direct neighbor of the ukraine. We cant have permanent adversity. We need to find a way to create a stable relationship again and hopefully president putin will present the offer we are making that if you respect the rules that all of us together had established in terms of respecting each others territory. I think peace can be reestablished and mutual trust can slowly be rebuilt. But it will take a long time. Thank you for joining us. We will be right back. Stay with us. John oliver is here. Eight years ago he auditioned in new york city for the very first time to audition for the daily show. 24 hours after getting the job, he was on the set with jon stewart as the senior british correspondent. Reviews flourished and he was encouraged to strike out on his own, and he did. Here is what his new show looks like. We pointed out that tom wheeler, the chair of the fcc, which is tasked with regulating cable companies, was previously a lobbyist for the cable industry, something of a conflict of interest that we summarized thusly. That is the equivalent of needing a babysitter and hiring a dingo. Sure, its a little offensive to australians favorite baby eating animal, but its good for the joke. On friday, the fcc held an open meeting, and this happened. I am just wondering if you watched the john oliver segment about Net Neutrality and what you thought about it. [applause] that is not good. So . What did you think . I think it represents the high level of interest that exists on the topic, and that is good. You now, i would like to state, for the record, that i am not a dingo. Last week tonight airs on sunday night on hbo. I am pleased to have john oliver back at this table. Thank you for having me. I know tom wheeler, by the way. I have known him for 30 years. Are you saying he is corruptible . All i am saying, charlie, is that the former head of the cable lobbying group might not be the ideal candidate for head of the fcc. Maybe he needed experience and he got it lobbying for the cable companies. Once you understand them, you can regulate them. Once they have paid you to represent them no conflict of interest. I know exactly who i want in there. Someone who doesnt fight me all the time. I can be that person. But he was so nice and gentle in his response to these egregious attacks. I accused him of being a baby eating dingo. You substituted for jon stewart. Then you came on this show and had a sterling performance. Right after that, you got a big offer from hbo. Im just asking, im asking. Sitting in for jon stewart, appearing on my show, a big new show for you, im asking. Its a gateway. What you are saying is you would like a piece of the action. Thats what im saying. Give me a taste. A little. I remember sitting down with you, the final week of hosting over the summer. I remember you saying do you think your life is going to change and i said no and you looked at me, your face was just like, oh, this kid doesnt know. He doesnt know. The jury is still very much out, by the way, on whether i am any good or not. Come on. You are clearly a brilliant comedian. Wow. You are writing checks that my popularity cannot cash, charlie. I am an acquired taste at best. Tell me about the experience of creating your own show. Here you are, you have this phenomenal background as a highly acclaimed comedian who has substituted for the one and only jon stewart. Its high praise to begin in the opportunity. And then to do it so well. That was kind of the apex of my time at the daily show was being in a position where jon would trust me, rightly or wrongly, with being the custodian of his show for a few months. It was an honor. Did you think for a moment, if i do this well like on day one, day two, day 3 if i do this well, by the end of three months, little john oliver will have his own show. Id did not think that for a single moment as you could tell from my face during your interview. I thought i would just go back. There was no point at which i thought it would lead to anything other than hopefully not being in trouble when jon got back. How do you like it, doing your own show, being in charge and responsible for lots of comedy. That is a different level, because i have been under his wing, under jons protective wing. And if it went bad, it could go to someone else. Or he could take the blow for me. I have had this wonderful position for a decade, snuggled up under his wing. And now you are exposed. I would love to look up and see that wing above me. Its been very different. Being a boss has been different. Setting stuff up myself has been a challenge. There are kind of basic management skills that do not come naturally to me. Hire people for that. Thats what ive learned. That is your answer to every question, hire people for that. Yes. Dont worry. You should not be worried about that. Dont worry about it. You are there for one thing, to entertai