Beyond the annexation of crimea and recent incursion into eastern ukraine, now talking openly about a new russia. President Vladimir Putin reportedly told a European Union official that russia could, quote, take kiev in two weeks. Whats their next move . Could it be against a nato member state. Lets talk to dan henninger, Bret Stephens and Matt Kaminski. Matt, looking at where we stand right now, does it look to you as if nato, the u. S. And europe have essentially written off ukraine . Well, thats been the story for the last six months. The u. S. And the eu did not react forcefully to the taking of crimea in march, and Vladimir Putin saw a green light to move toward forward. He has moved forward. Every step weve been late imposing hard sanctions. Weve always fried to give russia a way out. But most importantly weve abandoned ukraine but not helping it defend itself. Although ukraine is not a member of nato, its worked closely for years, served in afghanistan and iraq. They deserved arms and havent gotten it. What about those who say ukraine has historically always been part of russias sphere of influence. Its not part of nato. We dont have an obligation to defend it. Were not going to war against russia. What else can we do . Its there for russia to take anyway. But we made a commitment over the last 25 years since the fall of soviet union with ukraine, sign aed a treaty that we are going to not gairnl tee fully but going to secure ukraines independen independence. Russia was part of that. Right. They repudiated it lock, stock and barrel. Ukraine has been a de facto ally of the u. S. For much of its independent history. It deserves the support. What are the consequences, dan, of abandoning ukraine as matt talk bz . Stra teetegic strategically. I think the biggest consequence is it will tell putin he doesnt have to stop at ukraine. I mean, the president of the United States was in estonia earlier this week giving them his unqualified support. He said an attack on talon is an attack on london, new york. There was no daylight in what he said. Having said that, i doubt that thats really what nato intends to do. Sure, if Russian Troops rolled into ta lien, the capital of estonia, thats one thing. But most likely putin will start to destabilize the baltics because they have ethnic russian populations in there the same way he did ukraine. If he does that, is nato likely to act . I doubt it very much. I suspect thats where hes going next, the baltic. I agree with that. I few years ago, jimmy tarters National Security adviser warned, russia without ukraine is a normal state. Russia with ukraine becomes an empire. Thats important for us to understand. This is changing the character of the russian state as we have known it since the end the cold war. It is bringing it back to something very much like what it was before. And once its ukraine, it doesnt need to be the Baltic States. There are lots of targets of opportunity for Vladimir Putin, northern kazakhstan, huge country, a Large Russian population. Thats not a nato state. Of course not. But it means he is going to begin piece by piece to reconstitute aspect of the old soviet union. That is dangerous for the kind of order we have in the world because it sends a signal to other countries that might want to revise the global order they can do that as well. But nato is crucial because as a Defense Alliance it helped to unify europe and keep the soviet union out of western europe. Do you think, matt, that one of put putins golds here is to essentially show that nato is a hollow approximation and to attem attempt, basically to destabilize one of the Baltic States and when we dont respond, nato will be shown to be a nullity. Putin does what he usually says. Putin has said he wants to divide the west, that nato is a threat to russia, but i thinks he can weaken nato. Its really a paper tiger. Right yes. You think he wants to do that and will zoo that. I think he clearly is moving on. Moving in that direction. He has to keem moving because to survive in power, hes beating these nationalist drums in russia and has to keep beating them to keep control in moscow itself. Was the Nato Response this week adequate to all of this . It was not because they made clear, even ben rhodes National Security adviser to the president , said, wre n we are n focusing on lethal support. Its nonlethal support theyre sending to ukraine. The europeans are saying the same thing. Not going to help ukrainians fight to defend themselves. What about the response on nato . They created this Rapid Response force, 4,000, about no forward deployments. No forward deployments and no real urgency about massively increasing military budgets. Theres only about four countries of the 28 in nato, u. S. And britain and two smaller countries that actually meet the 2 estonia and poland. Right. 2 per gdp of defense spending. So you have a very weak alliance and real reluctance for economic reasons on part of all of our european allies to really meet the threat that we face. Russia may be a weak country in many ways, but its military is very large, very capable and nuclear armed. By forward deployments i mean moving troops. We have close to 100,000 troops in germany, moving those to poland or the Baltic States. About 70,000. We didnt do that. When we come back, destroying isis or managing it . The president is under fire for his mixed message on the terror group with members of his own party now joining critics, urging him to do more. Is it a sign of the role the issue may play in the midterm elections . And tea parties. Ill have more awkward conversations than im equipped for, because im raising two girls on my own. Ill worry about the economy more than a few times before theyre grown. But its for them, so ive found a way. Who matters most to you says the most about you. 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Continue to shrink isils sphere of influence, its effectiveness, its financing, its military capabilities to the point where it is a manageable problem. Destroying isis or managing it . That was president obama in estonia this week after news broke of a second american journalist beheaded at the hands of isis. The president is drawing criticism for his mixed message about his plans for dealing with the terror group. With some members of his own party urging the aadministration to take a tougher stance and lay out a comprehensive strategy. Were back with dan henninger, Matt Kaminski and Bret Stephens. Bret, the president does seem to be toughening his rhetoric, its no longer the jv team isis, the junior varsity, like he said in january. But what about his message . What do you hear . What do you hear about his intentions from what hes saying now . Well, you hear when the president talks about turning isis into a manageable problem, i think you hear the real president , the way this president thinks. When he talks about destroying it, youre hearing joe biden, his political advisers who are telling him, americans are furious about this because we are seeing helpless american journalists being beheaded. But this is clearly a president who is loath, reluctant to put boots on the ground, to really take the kinds of steps that you need to destroy this organization. Thats why the administration is talking about a two or thr threeyear time frame, which is insane given isis resources. You would agree i think that we need to put a coalition together to take an isis. Youre hearing leaks from the white house saying yf britain will help us, iraqis and others in the region. So isnt that a good idea . Its a good idea if thats what theyre doing. I dont think theyre quite doing it yet. King abdullah of jordan was at the nato meeting this week more or less begging them to put a coalition together, suggesting it isnt there yet. Because hes next in isis sights. You know, the president said hes trying to control isis sphere of influence. This is a very important phrase because that sphere of influence extends into syria. And syria is where barack obama and nato does not want to go, which is interesting. Youre right, senator democrats like senator nelson of florida have introduced a bill to say that the president is authorized to strike inside syria, in other words, theyre trying to untie his own hands. By the way, i believe he already has the power as commander in chief to bomb in syria, although it would be an important statement of political support. And the chairman of the Foreign Relations committee has said the same thing. So its beginning to build in that direction in congress. Do you think theres aes goo be enough domestic political pressure, matt, on the president from the right and left to overcome the ambivalence and reluctance to do anything . When americans see americans being beheaded on television repeatedly, joe biden said, they do get angry and they want action. This is all part of a conflict weve been in for over a decade now. Weve shown we can degrade al qaeda. We did it in pakistan, afghanistan, and we did it by the way in iraq. This was a problem resolved until barack obama pulled troops out. There is a growing call and polls show americans want a competent and active commander in chief. Yet theres still you see, bret, when you read some of the l liberal columnists and listen to some of the liberal politicians, they say, yeah, hes got to doing in smg, but he better be cautious, better take his time uflt even get the impression that theyre saying president obama has isis just where he wants them. I think what president obama would like is a strategy which means that isis is not a glaring political problem for him all the time. But remember, its been over two years that we first started hearing the administration telling reporters, were going to start arming the moderate syrian rebels. We have programs in jordan. So the president can say, we are going to do this, but translating what the president says on the dais to europe to actually what is happening on the ground is a big distance. What about the political pressure, the changing mood in america. They are as i think you all said really angry about this american being killed on youtube. These americans being killed. And its going to continue is that going to change the domestic politics of essentially returning to war this iraq . I think what were going to do is get a return to a certain kind of normality in american politics. You had a drift especially among iw÷ neoisolationist Progressive Left also among the democrats. I think this is going to remind americans that we have global responsibilities. With the support of american air strikes, the iraqi army this week was fighting to retake the city of tikrit north of baghdad. The Kurdish Peshmerga in the north have been fighting isis in mosul with the support of the United States. These people are willing to fight for themselves if they have significant support from the United States. Were not talking about sending the entire u. S. Army back into iraq. Were helping these people fight for themselves. But we are essentially back at war in iraq, whether the president wants to admit it or not. We might as well fight to defeat isis and win. When we come back, some hopeful signs of an accelerating recovery are giving the administration something to brag about. But with many voters still feeling anxious, can democrats run on the economy and win in november . vo friday night has always been all fun and games, here at the harrison household. 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So i just want everybody to understand, because you wouldnt always know it from watching the news, by almost every measure, the American Economy and American Workers are better off than when i took office. President obama touting recent economic kbaigains in milwaukee. But despite signs that the economy is starting to pick up steam, hiring slowed in august and americans remain anxious with nor man 70 in the latest poll saying the country is off on the wrong track. Can democrats run on the economy and win in november . Were back with dan henninger, wall street journal columnist Mary Anastasia owe grady and James Freeman joining us. Anastasia, stock market at record levels, but a mediocre jobs report this week. Where does the economy stand . I just want to say that i really admire the enthusiasm that president obama brought to that rally. I think that, yes, were far better off than we were, for example, in the First Quarter of this year where there was a contraction in the economy. In that sense, its picking up and things are better. But the Federal Reserve had a report out this week that said middle income families have not seen any wage gains, income gains, since before the theyre not caught up to where they were before the crash. Not even close. So theres stagnant income there. I think theres a lot of other problems, for example, unemployment. The employment numbers look good, but theres very low Labor Participation and what qualifies for employment includes a lot of parttime jobs. So you have a lot of the u. S. Work force working part time. Thats not good either. Well, i think the big question going forward, james, is, are we finally seeing this economy hit takeoff speed . Weve had 2 average growth for the entire expansion, really disappointing, historically dispoig. But people have been saying for five, six years, growth just h around the corner. We can see it coming. Is it finally there or another mirage . I was starting to get excited to make the optimistic case. Im a glass is half full kind of guy. Until the friday jobs report. But heres the optimistic scenario. Weve had pretty good news lately on both manufacturing and services picking up, decent car sales. The4jk commercial lending, le to businesses from banks, has been picking up this year. Then when you look at our trading partners, after europe basically ground to a halt economical economically, no growth, you see german manufacturing picking up. So i think there are signs. You combine that with a great Energy Opportunity in the United States, there are a lot of reasons to be optimistic. I think the policies from washington are keeping us from that breakout, and i think that has something to do with friday, where we just cant get that growth that weve all been hoping for. Just to buttress marys point, if you look at business investment, which is really the main driver of growth over time, its still not anywhere you would expect it to be at this stage of a recovery. Thats right. And that poll number we put up, 70 of the country thinks its going in the wrong direction. Thats an astounding number. How do you explain it . You can only guess, but i think i actually think a lot of it has to do with barack obama outsourcing the economy to the Federal Reserve. Weve had this zero bound Interest Rate policy for going on four years. You know what that means is for a lot of people out there who arent in the stock market, they have been making no money whatsoever on their saving